Planning Resource, the independent planning magazine, has reported that Borough of Poole is among those councils likely to face penalties due to under delivery of new housing.
The Government introduced a new Housing Delivery Test as part of the revised National Planning Policy Framework published in July 2018. The test seeks to ensure that local authorities build homes as well as plan for them. Those authorities that fail to build enough homes over the previous three-year period will have various sanctions imposed on them by the Government.
The Government will publish official delivery figures before the end of November. However, research by Planning Resource shows that two-fifths of Councils in England are expected to have underdelivered new housing against their targets. Included within the 128 councils is Borough of Poole which has delivered just 67.9% of its target. As a result, it is expected that the Government will require Borough of Poole to produce an ‘action plan’ as a sanction.
Poole’s neighbours have fared slightly better in delivering new homes, with Christchurch delivering 68.5% of their annual target and Bournemouth delivering 88.5% of their annual target. The under delivery of housing across the entire new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Unitary authority area highlights the need to not only plan for new homes in Local Plans but to also ensure the timely delivery of new homes.
Strategic new housing proposals such as Canford Park are essentially in meeting the challenge of the housing crisis and will help to ensure that the Urban Dorset area can demonstrate a future housing supply and, importantly, the timely building of new homes to protect against speculative development. W H White is committed to moving forward with Canford Park proposals without delay and, subject to the planning process, would hope to commence construction in late 2019 and deliver the first homes in 2021.