New Housing requirement for Stratford District

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has today, Friday 19 April, published a report into the review of housing requirements for Stratford-on-Avon district.

The independent review was carried out by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and has recommended that the District Council should plan to provide between 9,500 and 10,000 additional houses over the period 2008 to 2028.

The review considers that the latest available evidence shows a need to plan for a higher level of development than the 8,000 dwellings that were proposed in the District Council's Draft Core Strategy 2012.  However, the report also states that there is a good case for not setting the figure higher than 10,000 at a time when the economic outlook is still very uncertain.  ERM suggest that to do so would risk further unbalancing the population of the district by attracting a high proportion of retired in-migrants and out commuters.

The review makes it clear that to meet the Government's guidelines the housing requirement figure must be based on an informed view of recent and likely future in-migration.  It advises that a figure of 1,000 net in-migrants per year would be a robust assumption to adopt.  When added to the housing needed to cater for natural increase and changes in household structure, this would equate to a housing requirement of around 9,000 dwellings over the plan period. 

However, in setting the housing requirement in the Core Strategy, the District Council must take account of its sustainable Business and Enterprise Strategy, which seeks to increase the local retention of highly skilled labour and facilitate growth in the local economy.  On this basis ERM advise that sufficient housing provision should be made to at least maintain the current number of employed residents over the period to 2028.  This leads them to recommend the range of 9,500 to 10,000. 

The District Council's Cabinet will consider the review at a special meeting to be held on Monday 29 April. 
 

Purpose of Review - Environmental Resources Management (ERM) was commissioned by Stratford-on-Avon District Council in January 2013 to:

• review the evidence previously prepared relating to housing need and demand in Stratford District;
• identify any inconsistencies or gaps, and
• propose any other suitable approaches or models for determining the Stratford District housing requirements for the local plan period, from 2008 to 2028.
  
  

NPPR Requirements - The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires each Local Planning Authority (LPA) to identify the scale of housing that the local population is likely to need over its Local Plan period which meets household and population projections, taking account of migration and demographic change. Having assessed its area's full housing requirements on an 'objective' basis, a LPA may then consider whether there are reasons for not aiming to incorporate all of them in its Local Plan. Such reasons may include lack of physical capacity or potential harm to the principles and policies of the NPPF.