Local Plans

(asked on 31st March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his Department's policy is on whether a surplus contribution to meeting employment need made by a council through its local plan affects expectations for that council's contributions to housing need through the Duty to Cooperate.


Answered by
Stuart Andrew Portrait
Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This question was answered on 25th April 2022

The standard method for assessing local housing need is used by councils to inform the preparation of their local plans. Councils decide their housing requirement once they have considered their ability to meet the needs in their area. This includes taking local circumstances and constraints into account.

The duty to co-operate is a statutory requirement on councils (local planning authorities and county councils) and other public bodies. They must work together constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis in relation to planning for strategic cross boundary matters during plan preparation. This can include the redistribution of housing need and employment need between authorities where one authority cannot meet its own need.

There is no direct relationship or expectation that a contribution to meeting employment need, or other development needs, affects an authority's contribution to housing need or vice versa.

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