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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of housing required in Essex in the next (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years.

The Department has not made any specific estimates of the homes required. It is for the relevant planning authorities to determine this. The standard method for assessing local housing need identifies a minimum annual local housing need figure at a local authority level. The method should be used as the starting point in the process of determining how many homes should be planned for.