New housing data published by The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the “House building: new build dwellings statistics” has shown that in Borough of Poole just 100 new dwellings were completed in the quarter from April 2018 to the end of June 2018.
The same study also calls into question the current pipeline of new build homes in the Poole area as just 20 starts were made on new dwellings in the same quarter.
When reviewed over the past year from June 2017 to June 2018, the level of new homes completed hit 330, whilst 260 dwellings were started in the same period.
The delivery of housing is therefore looking likely to fall considerably below the Borough of Poole’s emerging Local Plan target, which is proposed to increase to 710 homes per annum under the emerging Local Plan – further highlighting the scale of the challenge.
Of the 330 completions made over the year from June 2017 to June 2018, 100% of these were private sector dwellings with zero homes delivered by Housing Associations.
In April 2018 we reported on this website that there were in the region of 950 applicants currently sitting on the housing waiting list in Poole which was 80% more than in 2013 when 523 applicants were on the waiting list.
The need for new homes, specifically affordable homes, is therefore clear and it is vital that the delivery of new homes increases in the Poole area in order to meet demand.
The emerging Poole Local Plan seeks to proactively acknowledge the geographical constraints to developing new homes in the Poole area by demonstrating the exceptional circumstances to releasing Green Belt land for the development of much needed new homes.
The emerging Poole Local Plan therefore includes allocations for the release two key sites from the Green Belt to help resolve the under delivery of homes in recent years. This includes Canford Park under emerging Policy UE2 for a minimum of 800 homes.
One of the key benefits of developing on virgin land, such as Canford Park, is the ability for such developments to deliver a significant proportion of affordable housing. It is proposed that Canford Park could potentially deliver up to 320 Affordable or Starter Homes in North Poole.
The new homes for Canford Park could also address Poole’s need for family houses, which will complement the predominantly flatted schemes likely to be brought forward within the Regeneration Area and the wider urban area.
ENDS