Small and medium sites to play a more pivotal role in meeting housing requirements

The revised NPPF, published on 24 July 2018, places greater emphasis on the role of small and medium sites in contributing to housing provision.

Paragraph 68 of the NPPF highlights that, due to quicker build-out rates, small and medium sites “can make an important contribution to meeting the housing requirement of an area”. As a result, LPAs are required to accommodate at least 10% of their housing requirement on sites which are no larger than one hectare.

Whilst at first glance this appears to be a significant change to the model of plan-led housing delivery, the revised NPPF is watered down from the ambitious requirement in the draft (published in March 2018), which proposed at least 20% of the housing requirement be delivered on sites no larger than 0.5 ha. Additionally, the revised NPPF allows LPAs to bypass this requirement if they can demonstrate that “there are strong reasons why this 10% target cannot be achieved”.

This shift in direction of housing delivery is to be welcomed by locally based house builders who will have greater involvement in the Local Plan process, however, it is apparent that the emphasis on housing delivery remains with larger sites.

Author: Robbie Locke 

 

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