Object

Representation ID: 8402

Received: 27/09/2021

Respondent: WSP

Agent: WSP

HOUSING NEED
The draft Local Plan asks the question:
“How many homes will be needed to be provided across the plan period?”
As outlined in Paragraph 61 of the NPPF, the standard method should be used to calculate future
housing requirement and Councils must follow this. Bedford Borough Council (BBC) state a result
of the government’s recent revisions to the standard method, the housing requirement for BBC is
1,275 dwellings per year, resulting in a total of 25,500 dwellings for the 20-year period from 2020 to 2040. The Draft Plan indicates that is the current starting point for the Local Plan housing requirement.

When considering existing commitments (planning permissions, allocations from current local plans and an allowance for windfall, which together total 13,000 dwellings), based on the standard method requirement figure of 1,275 dpa, the Draft Plan will need to allocate land to provide a minimum of 12,500 new dwellings.
Further detail is set out in the evidence base document Local Housing Needs Assessment (LHNA), this provides evidence the standard method number for the borough has been altered by recent affordability figures and the LHNA was produced in relation to the previous requirement of 1,305 dpa (a total 26,100 dwellings between 2020 and 2040) and this should therefore be considered as the figure for BBC’s housing requirement per the stand method as defined in the NPPF.
The annual requirement in the adopted Local Plan 2030 is 970 dwellings per year. The 1,305 required dwellings for this new plan represent a substantial increase to the adopted plan and will therefore result in the requirement to allocate additional sites (such as the land off Great Barford High Street) for housing development.