CITY MAY WELL GET 4,200 HOMES IN NEXT FIVE YEARS
Officials say figures mean authority is in a ‘strong place’ for deciding applications Phil Corrigan
MORE than 4,200 homes could be built in Stoke-on-trent over the next five years, according to a new report.
Stoke-on-trent City Council, like all local authorities, is required to demonstrate it has a five-year supply of housing land under national planning policy.
Councils which cannot prove they have a supply of housing land for that period may find it more difficult to block controversial planning applications, as a presumption in favour of sustainable development will apply.
The city council has calculated Stoke-on-trent will have a housing requirement of 3,565 homes over the next five years, or 713 a year, using standard methodology.
Housing land is considered deliverable if planning permission has already been granted for homes. In Stoke-on-trent’s case, a total of 1,204 homes could be built on sites which are actively under construction, while another 2,423 could be delivered on sites where permission has been granted but where work is yet to start – this includes a 14 per cent lapse rate.
The city council also includes a ‘windfall allowance’ of 609 homes, an estimate of the number of homes that could be delivered over the next five years where planning permission has yet to be granted, based on delivery in previous years. This brings the total deliverable housing supply to 4,236 homes, which equates to 5.95 years’ worth of housing land. This is a considerable increase on the supply of 2,905 homes calculated in 2020.
A council report states: “This demonstrates Stoke-on-trent has a five years’ supply when calculated against its housing requirement.
“The production of this evidence allows the council to be in a strong position to make decisions on housing development based on upto-date evidence.”
Stoke-on-trent’s five-year housing supply includes homes being delivered as part of major developments, such as 273 homes set to be built off Caverswall Lane in Meir and 308 student flats on the Minton Hollins site in Stoke. But most of the developments are much smaller, each delivering just a handful of homes.
Members of the city council’s planning committee will discuss the housing land supply report when they meet on Wednesday.