Changes to the ‘standard method’ that the government use to estimate housing needs has led to significant increase in the number of homes that will need to be delivered in most parts of the country.   Nationally we will require approximately 21% more houses each year, but these increases are not evenly distributed at a Local Authority level.  This will inevitably lead to some interesting development opportunities for previously less favourable sites. 

The annual target in Shropshire will increase by approximately 86% to 1,994 units per year, in Cheshire East the increase will be approximately 152% to 2,461 units per year and in Cheshire West and Chester there will be the highest increase in the housing target of 260% to 1,914 units per year.   

Along with the increased housing target Shropshire and Cheshire East also suffer from the poor state of their Local Plan so we are likely to see lots of speculative applications coming forward for all sorts of sites that may be considered a ‘sustainable location’.   This doesn’t necessarily mean large sites and we are expecting to see lots of 2-10 unit sites coming forward. 

We are urging anyone with potential residential development sites to come forward now so that we can conduct a feasibility assessment against the revised criteria in the updated planning policy.   Beneficial criteria include: 

• Good road access 

• Previously developed sites 

• Location close to services and shop 

• Site of low habitat value 

Please get in touch at info@wilsonfearnall.co.uk if you would like us to help.