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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what methodology his Department recommends for the calculation of five year land supplies; whether planning authorities are required to use regional spatial strategy figures in such calculations; and if he will make a statement.

The Coalition Government has abolished the last Administration’s top-down Regional Strategies which imposed housing numbers on local councils and fuelled resentment against new development.

Our planning reforms have ensured that councils should determine where new homes should and should not go through their Local Plans. It is for elected local councils working with their local communities to decide how best to meet their objectively assessed housing needs.

Our Planning Guidance, which we published on 6 March, sets out a clear and simplified methodology for assessing development needs for housing. Planning ahead for housing is the best way to make sure communities and business can have confidence and ensure enough housing is delivered to meet local needs.

Housing projections provide the starting point estimate of overall housing need, but can then be adjusted to reflect other factors including any constraints on land. This creates a housing requirement figure, which is used as the starting point for calculating a five-year land supply.