Revised NPPF: Housing Delivery Test – LPAs under pressure to ensure sites are truly deliverable

The Housing Delivery Test is one of the most anticipated changes to housing policy that the Government is bringing forward, and is reflected in the revised NPPF (2018).

The Housing Delivery Test is to be introduced from November 2018 and will take account of historic housing delivery to complement the forward-looking five-year supply calculations. The test will focus on driving up the numbers of homes delivered in an area, rather than how many are planned for. This will certainly add pressure on LPAs to make sure sites are truly deliverable.

From November 2018, Councils will need to provide a 20% buffer on top of its five-year supply of deliverable sites, where delivery in previous three years was below 85% of the housing requirement

From 2020, the presumption in favour of sustainable development will apply where delivery is below 75% of the authority’s housing requirement.

Whilst not stated in the revised NPPF (but contained in the NPPG), the Housing Delivery Test also indicates that the application of the presumption will also apply where delivery is less than 25% of the housing requirement in 2018 and 45% in 2019.

Author: Claudia Dietz

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