Housing Research Update

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has commissioned an update of the 2007 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment" for the District, helping to ensure that the planning of new housing in the District is based on sound and up-to-date evidence.

The Assessment, being produced by Baker Associates on behalf of the Council, provides information about how the District's main settlements can accommodate new housing over the next twenty years on "brownfield" land within the existing boundaries.  It also provides data about possible locations for greenfield development on the edge of the larger settlements in the District.
To help update the study, anyone with available land that could accommodate 6 or more dwellings within or next to any of the following settlements are being asked to submit details of these sites for assessment by the consultants.  The study settlements are: Alcester, Bidford-on-Avon, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Shipston-on-Stour, Southam, Stratford-upon-Avon, Studley and Wellesbourne.

An update of the 2007 study is particularly important as it will help the District Council to determine which housing land allocations to include in the version of the LDF Core Strategy to be submitted to the Secretary of State, together with the outcome of the current Draft Core Strategy consultation exercise,   says Councillor Stuart Beese, Portfolio Holder for Planning.

It will also help the District Council to identify more opportunities for brownfield redevelopment.

Further information about the study can be obtained from Chris Dadds at Baker Associates on 0117 933 8956 or from David Jones at the District Council on 01789 260334.

Further points to note:

The Local Development Framework (LDF) Draft Core Strategy was published for consultation on 19 November.  The LDF will replace the existing District Local Plan and will be based on evidence gathered over a period of time to inform the process.   

The 2007 report produced as a result of the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, undertaken by Baker Associates of Bristol on behalf of the Council, is available at www.stratford.gov.uk/planning/planning-1741.cfm

All submitted development sites will be given careful scrutiny against a range of assessment criteria which include highway and infrastructure capacity, settlement and landscape character, impact on biodiversity and other aspects of environmental sustainability.