Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

SHLAA and Housing Land Supply Position Statement

The need to prepare a SHLAA is set out in 'Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing' (PPS3). This requires local authorities to identify specific deliverable and developable sites in order to demonstrate how the requisite level of housing supply is to be achieved.

In May and June 2011 the Council contacted stakeholders who met the criteria below:

  • the developer or agent for a site/ sites that have an extant (unimplemented) planning permission,

  • the developer or agent for a site/ sites where there is a resolution to grant planning permission subject to a legal agreement, or

  • have a site/ sites identified as having some potential for residential development in the Council's SHLAA.

In order for us to meet the requirements of PPS3 as well as to inform our SHLAA, the Council is asking stakeholders to answer the questions regarding the suitability, availability and achievability of their sites via a proforma.

The deadline for returning proforma for the 2011 update has now passed. The SHLAA 2011 update is available to download below.

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SHLAA 2011

Woking Borough Council has prepared its second Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) for Woking Borough. The 2011 study supersedes the previous studies which were published in July 2009 and in November 2010.

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Housing Land Supply Position Statement

The 2011 Housing Land Supply Position Statement can be downloaded along with the historic 2009 and 2010 reports.

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Updating the SHLAA

Please note that, as required by PPS3, this updating exercise is an on-going activity, and it is therefore likely that the Council will be contacting stakeholders again in the future for up to date information. If you have been sent a letter and you are no longer the correct point of contact for the site name, please contact the Planning Policy Team. This will avoid you being contacted again in the future.

If you have a site that you believe may be suitable for housing, please complete the pro forma below. If you have a site which may be suitable for other uses please see our Site Allocations call for sites.

Submit a site pro forma

Both PDF and Word versions of the proforma can be downloaded and returned to us via email, post or fax.

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Background to the SHLAA

The Council is currently working towards meeting an annual housing requirement of 292 dwellings per annum. The main role of the SHLAA is to:

  • identify and assess sites and their potential for housing

  • assess when sites are likely to be developed.

The SHLAA is an important part of the evidence base for the documents which will comprise the Council's Local Development Framework and in particular the Core Strategy, which will identify broad locations for development.

Specifically, the SHLAA:

  • identifies the recent pattern of housing development

  • identifies the choice of sites available to meet Woking's housing requirement

  • forms a basis for making decisions about where to locate housing development in the future

  • informs whether or not a Green Belt release of land for housing will be required

  • informs whether action may need to be taken in order to ensure that sites become deliverable

  • informs whether policies need to be reviewed to enable identified sites to come forward for development.

It should be noted that the SHLAA itself will not determine whether a site will be allocated for housing development and that any conclusions reached in the study are made without prejudice to the determination of any subsequent planning applications in respect of the sites assessed.

Sites for housing will be allocated in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document, which will be prepared using the evidence in the SHLAA and other studies as a starting point. It will involve the community in the choices to be made from the outset through wide reaching public consultation. The process will be subject to independent examination.

It should be stressed that although the study must include the assessment of greenfield sites, any future strategy for housing delivery in Woking will only consider greenfield development if there are insufficient suitable brownfield sites available. This is in line with national policy. The SHLAA has been prepared by officers of the Council in conjunction with key stakeholders and with specialist input from consultants where necessary. The SHLAA is based on the best information reasonably available at the time of writing and using the professional judgment of those involved.

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Methodology

A draft methodology was written for the first SHLAA which set out how the site assessments would be undertaken. Key stakeholders were consulted on this and their comments were taken into account before the final methodology was produced.

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SHLAA 2010

Woking Borough Council has prepared its second Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) for Woking Borough. The 2010 study supercedes the previous study which was published in July 2009.

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SHLAA 2009

Woking Borough Council has prepared its second Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) for Woking Borough. The 2010 study supercedes the previous study which was published in July 2009.

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Comments

Woking Borough Council intends to consider the SHLAA a living document which will be updated annually, and as such, welcomes comments on this document. Any comments or site pro-forma for inclusion in the 2012 SHLAA update should be sent in writing to:

The Planning Policy Team, Woking Borough Council, Civic Offices, Gloucester Square, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6YL. Or by emailing: planning.policy@woking.gov.uk