Following the announcement by Wychavon District Council that the examination of the SWDP has been delayed again, with the consequent knock-on effect to the Plan approval, this Briefing Note has been issued:
BRIEFING STARTS
You may have seen the news about the recent delay to the SWDP Review examination process. If you haven’t then you can read it here.
While this delay is disappointing, we are working as fast as we can to get the requested evidence documents updated and agree a new timetable for moving to the next stage of the examination process.
Some of you have asked us what the implications of this are for the determination of planning applications being submitted or decided on in the absence of a formally updated and adopted SWDP, particularly given Wychavon does not currently have an adequate land supply.
We hope this short briefing note will help explain the current position.
Under recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) councils like ours that have progressed their emerging development plan to Regulation 19 stage are required to demonstrate they have a four-year land supply (down from five years).
Because of the mathematical formula the Government is using, which currently does not take into account oversupply in recent years, Wychavon only has a land supply of 2.78 years.
If oversupply in previous years was taken into account, Wychavon would have a land supply of 4.17 years and be in a stronger position to resist housing development in the countryside that does not accord with the spatial strategy of the development plan.
Although the Government’s Chief Planner has indicated recently that clarification is to be provided on how past oversupply can be factored into our housing land supply calculations, we are yet to see this. We are therefore lobbying the Government to urgently update its advice on how past oversupply should be taken into account, so it is fairer on councils like Wychavon which have adopted a pro-growth attitude to housing provision.
Unless we are successful in persuading the Government to change its position – and until the SWDP Review is formally adopted – we are in a position where the ‘tilted balance’ contained within the Government’s NPPF continues to be engaged.
This means when the council is determining an application, or an inspector is determining an appeal, the mindset of the decision taker needs to shift from a neutral balance where development plan policies relating to housing assume full weight, to an approach whereby planning permission should be granted unless policies in the NPPF that protect areas or assets of particular importance clearly indicate that permission should be refused, or any adverse impacts of granting permission would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the NPPF taken as a whole.
The tilted balance provision within the NPPF does not mean all policies in the current SWDP are irrelevant or that planning permission should automatically be granted for every housing application received, although it does make it more likely planning permission will be secured. This regrettably does make it more difficult for us to resist unwanted speculative development that does not fully accord with the SWDP, and we know some of you are experiencing applications of this nature and that is understandably a cause for concern in your communities.
For those of you with a neighbourhood plan that is less than five-years-old, and which contains policies and allocations to meet the identified housing requirement set out in the SWDP, the adverse impacts of allowing development that conflicts with the neighbourhood plan is likely to significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.
For those of you who do not have a neighbourhood plan, we have just committed in our new We Are Wychavon plan to supporting parishes with the process of securing funding and developing neighbourhood plans as we believe they have many benefits, not just in resisting speculative development. If you would be interested in exploring developing a neighbourhood plan for your parish, please contact our policy team on 01386 565565 or alternatively email the Planning Policy Team at policy.plans@wychavon.gov.uk who can discuss the process with you.
In the meantime, we will continue to lobby the government regarding the unfairness of the Government’s policy, guidance and methodology for housing land supply calculations, and the planning policy team are working as fast as they can to get the requested evidence documents updated so we can move forwards with getting the SWDP Review through examination and officially adopted.
We hope this provides some clarification and reassurance about this matter.
BRIEFING ENDS