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MHCLG to publish Housing Delivery Test results this week
Ministers will publish the results of their Housing Delivery Test this week, which could see targets for new housing imposed on councils that do not have up-to-date local plans, Inside Housing understands.
A Conservative source said that the test will not prove an issue for councils with local plans in place – but will be “a reminder of the importance the government is placing in housing” for those that do not.
As of the start of February, 103 councils in England had not yet adopted an up-to-date plan.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said today that the Housing Delivery Test results “will be published shortly”.
Publication of the test results was initially due in November 2018, while the concept was announced in February 2017’s Housing White Paper.
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According to the National Planning Policy Framework published in July, the Housing Delivery Test “[m]easures net additional dwellings provided in a local authority area against the homes required, using national statistics and local authority data”.
It will kick in once the results are published – and will see councils that are deemed to be failing to meet their targets forced to accept more development unless they have a local plan in place offering a locally agreed target figure.
The test will be published yearly, providing a percentage measurement for each council of how much housing need has been met over a three-year period.
Councils meeting less than 95% of housing need – assessed via the local plan figure or the nationally imposed target – will be told to write up an action plan for increasing housing delivery.
Lord Gary Porter, chair of the Local Government Association, has previously said that the test will mean “developers will be able to ignore sites agreed locally and build in places that communities did not want to include in local plans” and avoid other local planning policies, including on affordable housing provision.
