Council asks residents for ideas on where to put new homes

National planning policy requires local authorities such as Daventry District Council (DDC) to demonstrate they have five years’ worth of land for residential development that is both viable and deliverable.

The amount of land needed over those five years is determined by the number of new homes calculated the district will need.

The demand for new homes is fed by a number of factors – general population growth as children move out from local family homes, more people living alone, an aging population who a remaining in their homes for longer, people moving into the area from the rest of the UK or beyond.

A failure to identify a five year land supply was a key problem for Daventry District Council when faced with a spate of planning applications for smaller developments in and around villages.

The sites were not identified for new homes, and spreading homes out around the district goes against DDC’s aim of concentrating growth in Daventry where larger developments allows planners to push developers to provide for more facilities for the community.

With a lack of proven land supply the council lost a series of planning appeals.

In April this year, DDC published its Housing Land Availability report, which set out a 5.95 year supply of housing land in the district, but the supply needs to be updated every year as sites are developed and new ones are identified.

The council has now produced a draft Housing Implementation Strategy (HIS), which assesses where housing supply might come from in the coming years as well as identifying actions required by both DDC and developers to ensure the five-year supply can be maintained up to 2029.

At a meeting of DDC’s strategy group on Thursday 14 July 14 councillors voted to launch a consultation on the draft HIS, with comments invited from parish councils and parish meetings as well as from the wider public.

Councillors also resolved to call upon Northampton Borough, South Northamptonshire and Wellingborough Councils to work together with DDC in the development of a HIS for the Northampton Related Development Area where Northampton’s growth is spilling out into Daventry and South Northants districts.

Cllr David James, Daventry District Council’s strategic planning portfolio holder, said: “The ability to demonstrate a housing land supply of more than five years has become important in helping to protect our district from speculative development and helps the council to defend its position at a planning appeal where it has refused a planning application.

“The adoption of a HIS is an important step towards maintaining the current five-year housing land supply into the future so that our district can continue to thrive as a place to live, work and prosper.”

People have until 5pm on Monday September 12 to have their say on the draft HIS by visiting www.daventrydc.gov.uk/consultation Copies of the document also available from the Council offices in Lodge Road, Daventry, NN11 4FP.