Landowners: could your land be included as a site allocation?

With the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework, each local council is now required to set their own housing and job targets for the next 15-year period.
To ensure that these targets are robust, each council will need to identify and allocate suitable land for housing and employment development through the development plan process.

This may be done through a local plan or through a specific site allocation development plan document. This represents an excellent opportunity for landowners to unlock the potential of their sites through the development plan process.
By having land included as a site allocation for a particular use, it makes it much more likely to achieve a successful planning application as the principle of development would already have been secured.
The site allocation process can take several years and go through a number of different stages. Despite the lengthy and sometimes complex process, it is certainly worth pursing as the financial rewards are potentially great.
A number of the key development plan stages that you should look out for include:

• Call for Sites – This is where the council invites landowners, developers and the general public to identify land that may have development potential;
• Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) – This document assesses all the sites that the Council is aware of, including those identified under ‘call for sites’, to consider their suitability for inclusion as a site allocation. Councils often undertake a consultation on the findings of this document and invite additional sites to be added.
• Local Plan or Site Allocations DPD – These are the documents in which site allocations are identified. Once adopted by a council the allocations will become part of planning policy and will carry significant weight in future planning decisions. Prior to adoption, these documents will be subject to various consultation stages, often referred to as ‘Preferred Options’ and ‘Proposed Submission’. There will be opportunities to put sites forward as site allocations through each of these consultation stages. It is always better to become involved in this process at the earliest possible stage.  Following the consultation stages, these documents will be independently examined to ensure they are robust.

When promoting sites for potential inclusion as a site allocation, the key to success will be to demonstrate that the site constitutes sustainable development and supports the development needs of an area.
Plainview regularly promotes land for inclusion as a site allocation. The type of land promoted varies and recent projects have included urban extensions, a strategic logistics park and burial sites.
If you own any land that may have development potential and are interested in seeking to get this land identified as a site allocation within a development plan, please contact one of our consultants on 01245 201226 or alternatively please submit your site details to us using the web or email us at enquiries@mplanning.co.uk.