Evidence, data and monitoring
- 1 Main Report - October 2011 (SHLAA 1)
- 2 First Update - May 2013 (SHLAA 2)
- 3 Second Update - July 2015 (SHLAA 3)
- 4 Third Update - January-February 2021 (SHLAA 4)
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA)
What is a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment and why do we need one?
Government policy as set out in National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires all Councils to produce a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). The SHLAA is a piece of research which gathers together information on a list of potential development sites ranging from those which already have planning permission to those which have been proposed on a speculative basis by land owners, developers or the public for future consideration. Planning officers have also identified additional sites by survey work.
The SHLAA is not a policy document, it does not make decisions or recommendations on which sites will go forward and be allocated for development. It is however an important part of the evidence base of the Local Plan and provides useful information to inform where the current development pressures are, the scale of constraints in any one area and how many new homes could be delivered from those sites.
The study informs the Council whether there is an adequate supply of land across the District to meet the Housing Requirement and how this supply is distributed. It assesses the current supply of unconstrained land and the likely deliverability of new homes in the short term together with an appraisal of other future options that could be considered in the longer term.
Bradford's SHLAA has been undertaken with the help of a working group comprised by members of the private house-building industry, social home providers and other Council officers. It is undertaken in line with the published methodology set out below.
The first SHLAA (SHLAA1) was published in October 2011 (see below) and the first update (SHLAA2) in May 2013.
The second update - July 2015 (SHLAA3) is the latest assessment and expands on the findings of the previous studies. It has added further sites with the capacity of at least 5 units submitted by landowners and their agents, the local community and from new permissions. Council officers have also added additional sites from ongoing survey work.
Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment and the Local Plan
A fourth version of the SHLAA was published in February 2021 alongside detailed work undertaken for the emerging Local Plan and was renamed the Strategic Land Assessment (SLA). The close relationship of the SLA with the Local Plan meant that it was necessary to maintain a level of consistency and as such involved more in depth site assessment work outside of the remit of previous SHLAAs. This included matters including development impacts and further analysis to determine availability and achievability which resulted in the rejection of more sites than in previous versions. You can access the latest report visiting the Bradford District Local Plan page.
The inclusion of a site in the SHLAA does not provide any indication of the Council's view of acceptability for future development. Sites considered in the study have been assessed against current local policy constraints some which would currently prevent their development for new homes. The decisions on whether a site will be allocated for future residential development will be taken in the Local Plan which will be subject to several stages of production and public consultation.
The Government requires that all Councils aim to ensure that there is a five year supply of deliverable land. For previous SHLAAs 5 year Housing Land Statements have been produced as an appendix to the main SHLAA document. The latest 5 Year Housing Land Statement also forms part of the evidence base of the emerging Local Plan and can also be found by following the link above.
Further information can be requested by email planning.policy@bradford.gov.uk or by phoning 01274 433679.