Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................... 5 2 Context.............................................................................. 8 3 Methodology..................................................................... 13 4 Assessment Findings...................................................... 21 5 Remaining Commitments and Projected Housing Requirements................................................................... 28 6 Next Steps......................................................................... 31 APPENDICES .................................................................................. 33 Appendix A – Potential Hosing Renewal Areas (Coast & Country Housing) Appendix B – Focus Group membership & list of attendees at 16 August workshop Appendix C – Suitability Assessment Methodology Appendix D – Developers Surveys Pro-Forma Site Location Maps ........................................................................ 51 3 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ 4 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Additional land for housing is required in Redcar & Cleveland in order to meet projected increasing demand in accordance with the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for North East England. This will involve allocating appropriate sites for residential development through the Local Development Framework Communities Development Plan Document (LDF Communities DPD), which is due to adopted in 2010. Since the issue of the Redcar & Cleveland Local Plan Review Key Issues Report in 2002, a range of sites have been put forward for housing by and on behalf of landowners and developers, while other sites have been identified in surveys, particularly the Redcar & Cleveland Urban Housing Capacity Study (2003) and its 2006 review. As many of these of sites are unlikely to be needed to meet the Borough’s additional housing requirements, a robust and objective assessment is required in order to select the most appropriate sites for development. In accordance with the policy framework established by national guidance, the RSS and the LDF, sites will be selected which can most effectively: • contribute to the sustainable development of the Borough; • support the creation of sustainable communities, and • ensure targets and requirements for additional housing are achieved. This Draft Strategic Housing Land Assessment (SHLA) sets out the findings of an assessment of potential housing sites carried out in Summer 2007. In order to manage the large amount of information generated by the study, the assessment comprises two volumes: • This Report, and • Site Assessment Summary Tables. This document sets out the context for the assessment, an explanation of the methodology and a summary and analysis of the key findings. The Site Assessment Tables provide site details and a summary of assessment findings for each site. Both documents include site location maps towards the back. The assessment is one of two key background research papers providing supporting evidence for the allocation of housing sites in the LDF Communities DPD. The other background paper, the Housing Evidence Report, is currently being prepared and will consider the mix of housing types and tenures required in different areas of the Borough. As the study was undertaken in Summer 2007 it reflects the position at that time, based on available information. During the course of the study, related guidance on undertaking Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) was published and the Assessment has been completed in accordance with the new guidance. 5 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ The work has been co-ordinated by the Policy & Design section of the Planning Services division of the Council and includes contributions from housing industry professionals, environmental specialists and local government officers. 1.2 Purpose The purpose of the SHLA is to inform the preparation of the Redcar & Cleveland Local Development Framework by: • providing an objective survey of potential housing sites through an assessment of site suitability, availability and achievability in accordance with national guidance; • identifying the issues which need to be resolved in selecting appropriate sites for development; • estimating the requirement for numbers of additional dwellings to meet projected housing demand, and • reviewing progress in the development of sites with planning permission. The study provides background evidence for the Communities DPD Preferred Options Report will include preferred housing allocation sites to meet projected housing requirements in the Borough to 2021. It should be noted that the inclusion of particular sites and the nature of the comments made about them either in this Report or in the Site Assessment Tables does not in any way infer that those sites will be granted planning consent or allocated for development in the LDF. 1.3 Scope The Assessment has considered sites within Redcar & Cleveland excluding areas inside the North York Moors National Park: this is the area covered by the LDF. Over 160 sites have been assessed and are listed towards the front of the Site Assessment Tables document, along with a small number of sites which have been submitted for consideration since the process started and for which, consequently, information and analysis is outstanding. The assessment considered sites which might be expected to provide at least 10 additional dwellings. Sites expected to yield fewer than 10 dwellings were excluded because it is unlikely that they would become allocations in the LDF, regardless of their acceptability for residential development. They will instead be treated as ‘small windfalls’ and treated through the normal planning application process. For small sites which have been put forward but are outside development limit boundaries, a review of development limits is being undertaken as part of the preparation of the Communities DPD. A number of potential housing renewal areas have been put forward by Coast & Country Housing (CCH). As it was not clear that any of these potential housing 6 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ replacement schemes would provide additional housing and because these sites tend to be in sustainable locations, they have not been included in the assessment. However, as the renewal of sub-standard or unpopular housing needs can clearly be a key element in regenerating neighbourhoods and creating sustainable communities, and clearance and redevelopment could affect the nature of housing mix and demand at the neighbourhood level, it is important to be aware of these proposals. Therefore, these sites are listed at Appendix A. 7 Redcar & Cleveland Strategic Housing Land Assessment November 2007 Consultation Draft ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2 CONTEXT The Assessment has been carried out in accordance with the policy context provided by the following: • Planning Policy Statement 3 – Housing • Emerging Regional Spatial Strategy for North East England • Redcar & Cleveland Local Development Framework Core Strategy Development Plan Document (DPD) • Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) Practice Guidance 2.1 Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) was published in November 2006, replacing PPG3, and sets out national planning policies and objectives for housing. PPS3 was prepared in response to the Barker Review of Housing Supply (2004) and accordingly places strong emphasis on increasing the rate of housing supply in order to meet growing demand. The PPS stresses the importance of: • developing a strong evidence base to support housing delivery strategies; • ensuring a continuous deliverable supply of housing, and • taking a collaborative approach in devising housing strategies. Para. 53 advises that ‘local authorities should develop housing strategies to enable the delivery of housing land for at least at fifteen years from the date of adoption [of the DPD], taking account of the level of housing provision set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy’. The new PPS stresses the importance of preparing a solid evidence base to support housing strategies and principally through undertaking Housing Land Availability Assessments (HLAA) and Strategic Housing Market Assessments (SHMA). Para 54-55 advises that local planning authorities should, by drawing on information from a SHLAA or other evidence, identify specific deliverable sites to deliver housing in the first five years of the development plan. To be considered deliverable,