More than 50 councils across England failed the Housing Delivery Test (Pixabay) Not enough new homes were built in Redbridge and Havering over the last three years, newly released Government figures reveal. Havering has the biggest shortfall of new homes in London after 1,929 of the 3,414 homes needed in the borough, according to the London Plan, were built. This makes it one of more than 50 councils in England to “fail” the Government’s “Housing Delivery Test” on January 19. Councils where less than three quarters of the housing target was met will now have to approve all future developments unless their impact “significantly and demonstrably” outweighs benefits.
Councils urged to ensure Local Plans are up to date
Councils urged to update their Local Plans to ensure the country gets on with building the homes it needs and in the right places.
From:
19 January 2021
Minister of State for Housing, Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP has urged councils to update their Local Plans to ensure the country gets on with building the homes it needs and in the right places.
The Planning for the future white paper consultation published last year set out proposals to deliver a significantly simpler, faster and more predictable planning system. Councils should consider that an up-to-date plan will put them in the best possible position to deliver the homes we need.
The HDT assesses a local authority s homebuilding performance over a three year period, while any falling below 95 per cent of set targets has to draw up an action plan.
Because Redbridge ranked at 56pc (for the three years up to 2019/2020), it is subject to this requirement.
An interim target of 75 per cent has been set for the capital s sixth worst borough, which the report concedes is unlikely to be met when the next HDT figures are published.
Therefore, this will create a Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development for housing schemes.
This presumption will not only be a consequence of current housing targets not being met. It is also set to reflect the fact that Redbridge faces a 23 per cent increase in those targets - up from 1,123 to 1,409 homes per year.