Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

Woking Borough Council has prepared a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) for Woking Borough. The need to prepare a SHLAA is set out in 'Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing' (PPS3). This requires local authorities to identify specific and deliverable sites in order to demonstrate how the requisite level of housing supply is to be achieved.

 The Council is currently working towards meeting an annual housing requirement of 292 dwellings per annum (as set out in the South East Plan). Government guidance published in July 2007 sets out that these sites are to be identified through the preparation of a SHLAA.  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 of 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 judgement of those involved.  

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 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