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Planning consideration

5 year housing land supply (5yhls)

Data about sites where they are expected to come forward to build-out within the next five years

Design stage
Research
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Background information

Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.

Backlog

  • Who asked for '5 year housing land supply (5yhls)' data?

    Data design - candidate for collecting documents

  • What is the driver for the request?

    Specific user requirement

  • Which 2024 focus area does the request support?

Screen

  • What is the '5 year housing land supply (5yhls)' consideration?

    A 5 year land supply is a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of housing (and appropriate buffer) against a housing requirement set out in adopted strategic policies, or against a local housing need figure, using the standard method, as appropriate in accordance with paragraph 78 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

  • Is there legislation that defines '5 year housing land supply (5yhls)'?

    No

  • Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about '5 year housing land supply (5yhls)'?

    As per the NPPF section 78, "Local planning authorities should identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide a minimum of five years’ worth of housing against their housing requirement set out in adopted strategic policies, or against their local housing need where the strategic policies are more than five years old." So, it is the local authority's responsibility.

  • Which organisations do we think should publish the data?

    • Local authorities

  • Is the 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) a trigger?

    No

  • Is the 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) something to consult during plan making?

    Yes

    • Provide information about when 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) is used during plan making

      The purpose of the 5 year housing land supply is to provide an indication of whether there are sufficient sites available to meet the housing requirement set out in adopted strategic policies for the next 5 years.

      In plan-making, strategic policies should identify a 5 year housing land supply from the intended date of adoption of the plan.

      For decision-taking purposes, an authority will need to be able to demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply when dealing with applications and appeals. They can do this by using the latest available evidence such as a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA), or an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR).

  • Is there any 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) data already available?

    Yes

  • Do we think the data should come from a single source?

    No - in order to capture this information we will need to go into each local authority's monitoring report to collate the data, and it's likely to be worked out similarly but potentially with different language.

  • Will a data standard be required?

    Yes

Research

  • Do we understand the lifecycle of a 5 year housing land supply (5yhls)?

  • Do we understand how the data is created/produced?

  • Where will or should the data be used?

    In plan-making, strategic policies should identify a 5 year housing land supply from the intended date of adoption of the plan.

    For decision-taking purposes, an authority will need to be able to demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply when dealing with applications and appeals. They can do this by using the latest available evidence such as a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA), or an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR).

  • Development plans, Housing and economic land availability assessment, housing delivery test, housing numbers, Local Plans, Strategic Housing Market Areas

  • Who are the statutory consultees for 5 year housing land supply (5yhls)?

  • Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of 5 year housing land supply (5yhls)? How do we expect them to use 5 year housing land supply (5yhls)?

    developers, planning officers, planning inspectors

  • What are the planning needs for this data?

    All LPAs must plan for their local housing need, to identify the number of homes which must be planned for. The 5 year housing land supply is a calculation of whether there is a deliverable supply of homes to meet the planned housing requirement (or, in some circumstances, local housing need) over the next 5 years. A 5 year land supply is a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of housing (and appropriate buffer) against a housing requirement set out in adopted strategic policies, or against a local housing need figure, using the standard method, as appropriate in accordance with paragraph 78 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

    This informs the policies which are developed as part of the Local Plan, which informs all decision making.

  • Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) data?

    developers, planning officers

  • What are some potential uses of 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) data?

  • What's the value of adding 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) data to the platform?

  • From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) data available?

3 updates

  • Claire Miller (20 February 2025)

    Changes to the NPPF in December 2024 have included a different methodology for the standard method for calculating local housing need, which is used to demonstrate an LPAs five year housing land supply. The standard method is now mandatory for all LPAs to use, and the new calculation considers existing housing stock, rather than 2014 population projections, and then an uplift is applied for the least affordable areas. LPAs also now need to produce an annual position statement setting out the number of sites allocared within plans, and coming forward, against the five year housing need figure.

  • Kieran Wint (21 January 2025)

    As can be seen in the "Screen" stage for this consideration, an annual monitoring report has been captured as a source for the data, but this largely depends on how we aim to implement this consideration as data on the platform. Nothing geospatial has been found and there is no information on licensing, only that the document is "controlled."

  • Claire Miller (26 September 2024)

    As per some research we did, summarised in this blog on an analysis of local plans and local area requirements, we're confident that this consideration is an OUTPUT, and created during the local plan process.

Last updated: 2025-01-24 11:36:14