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LGA rejects government plans to impose housing need targets on councils
Objectively assessed housing need baselines should not be imposed on councils that do not want them, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.
The government has just closed a consultation on proposals to standardise how housing need is calculated across all local authority areas – in line with one of the major pledges from the Housing White Paper.
It is an attempt to simplify the process of calculating housing need to speed up the planning system, but it will mean some councils are forced to have higher or lower targets than those they set for themselves.
In its submission to the consultation yesterday, the LGA said the suggested model “should be optional to use for local planning authorities”.
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It said the proposed system “is too simplistic”.
It added: “Therefore many places face a new housing need number that is dramatically above their currently planned need, and may often seem undeliverable.
“Conversely other places with new numbers that are lower than were being planned for locally will have to contend with disrupted local partnerships that could put at risk plans for economic growth and renewal.”
Local planning authorities should be allowed to use their own “clear and justified” methodology, the response said.
The new methodology would provide an overall estimate of housing need of 266,000 homes a year in England – well above the government’s 200,000 target.
As part of its response to the 19-question consultation, the LGA also said that viability assessments should be made public, and that the government should make a “firmer statement” to ensure site values reflect local planning policies on affordable housing and infrastructure.
And it said councils’ compulsory purchase order powers should be “streamlined” to speed up land assembly for development.
