In the context of the need to boost housing supply in light of the increased housing requirement (circa 33% increase per annum), the Council should in this Plan proceed with making allocations in order to speed up delivery and ensure the housing need (including affordable) is met as soon as possible. Awaiting Neighbourhood Plans to be reviewed or prepared would add unnecessary delay which may adversely affect the trajectory and five year housing land supply (against the higher housing requirement).
This would be particularly relevant in areas where there is an obvious and logical choice of site to be selected for allocation, such as at land south of Northampton Road, Bromham (ID 757). Paragraph 1.48 states that in the scenario where the strategy involves additional development in and around villages and there is a genuine choice of site available, the Council will ask if a Parish Council would like to select the sites in a review of their Neighbourhood Plan. In the case of Bromham, we query whether there is a genuine choice of available sites. The Local Plan should identify and allocate deliverable sites in and around settlements now, particularly where there is no genuine choice of alternative sites.
Furthermore, Site ID 757 (formerly Site 43) has been previously referred to in an email from the Chair of the Parish Council (dated 23 January 2020) as the natural progression for future development in Bromham and had the backing of the Parish Council for a reserve site.