Herefordshire Council Confirms The Need For More Housing Sites

Following the updates made to national planning policy in December, Herefordshire Council has confirmed that it can no longer evidence that it can provide enough houses to meet its target.

Housing targets in England are set by Central Government, with the duty to deliver housing being on local authorities. Prior to 12^th December 2024, Herefordshire Council was able to evidence that for the next five years it could meet its target of delivering 3865 new homes, however along with changes to national planning policy came updates to the number of houses to be provided by local authorities. These updates now see a requirement for Herefordshire Council to deliver 6815 new homes over the next five years.  This is a dramatic increase, which Herefordshire Council has confirmed means that they can only evidence the provision of homes for the next 3.09 years, down from 5.79 years prior to the 12^th December 2024.

What does this mean for planning applications in Herefordshire?

For planning applications in Herefordshire, this means that decisions will have to apply a presumption in favour of new development, with the exception of cases where the adverse effect of approving developments would significantly outweigh the benefits. This change also means that Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs), which can strictly control where development takes place, are now out of date if they are more than 5 years old. Herefordshire was an early adopter of NDPs, meaning that in many Parishes the plans will be older than 5 years, and sites which would have previously been ruled out for development may now be considered appropriate.

This creates the opportunity for landowners with land within or adjacent to towns and villages in Herefordshire to support Herefordshire Council with the delivery of homes to meet their target. Berrys are strongly encouraging these landowners to contact us to see if they may have land available for housing development to meet this challenge.

What does this mean for the Local Plan?

Herefordshire Council has been in the process of reviewing its planning policy, and in draft plans have proposed reducing the number of places appropriate for new development down from a wide area of around 225 settlements, to a much more concentrated number of just 30. However, within a letter to Parish and Town Councillors, Herefordshire Council has confirmed that the current strategy contained within the Draft Local Plan would not provide enough homes to meet the new target. The letter confirms that in light of this, Herefordshire Council cannot progress the Draft Local Plan in its current form and will need to review how it wishes to proceed with Local Plan making.

Given this situation the Council will have to find more land for houses to include in a revised local plan. Berrys are encouraging landowners with sites in or adjacent to settlements to contact us, to consider whether an application for housing could be considered now, or whether the land may be appropriate for promotion within a future Local Plan.

If you wish to discuss potential sites or for any planning and development enquiry, please contact the planning team at our Hereford office for a no-obligation, initial discussion on 01432 809830.