Spatial Strategy for Housing and Economic Growth

Spatial Strategy for Housing and Economic Growth Housing Need and Housing Land Provision and Distribution Purpose 5.8 The purpose of this policy is to establish the overall housing requirement for Buckinghamshire and provide the spatial strategy for accommodating growth over the plan period. The policy seeks to ensure that sufficient land is available to meet identified housing needs, support affordability, create sustainable communities and direct development towards the most sustainable locations, whilst ensuring that growth is aligned with infrastructure provision and environmental capacity. National Policy 5.9 The NPPF requires plans to significantly boost housing supply by ensuring sufficient and varied land is available, meeting the needs of different groups, and bringing forward land without delay. Housing requirements should be based on a local housing need assessment using the standard method, unless exceptional circumstances justify an alternative, and should take account of unmet needs from neighbouring areas. 5.10 Plans must set a clear housing requirement and identify a deliverable and developable supply of land, supported by a housing land availability assessment. Larger scale developments such as new settlements and urban extensions may be appropriate where sustainable and supported by infrastructure. Authorities must maintain a five-year supply of deliverable sites, with an appropriate buffer of 5% or 20% depending on delivery performance and include a trajectory of expected delivery over the plan period. Local Housing Needs 5.11 The NPPF states that strategic policies should be informed by a local housing need assessment (LHNA), which assesses how many homes are needed in line with the standard method and breaks down the need for different housing types to meet the needs of the local community. Buckinghamshire Council commissioned Opinion Research Services (ORS) to prepare an LHNA to inform the Local Plan. The LHNA was published as a draft version to accompany the draft plan consultation in 2025 and has now been updated and finalised to be published alongside the Regulation 19 plan documents. 5.12 The LHNA (2026) identifies Buckinghamshire’s housing need, based on the latest data and the standard method, as 4,344 dwellings per annum, equating to 91,230 dwellings over the 21-year plan period from 2024 to 2045. This represents a 38% increase in Buckinghamshire’s housing stock compared to 2024 levels. We already have just over 21,500 homes committed for development from existing local plans, neighbourhood plans and planning permissions [1]. This leaves an outstanding figure of around 70,000 new homes needed to meet our future housing needs for Buckinghamshire.