Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment - Christchurch

A Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) is a technical study which assesses the theoretical potential of sites in the borough to accommodate future housing development.

All local planning authorities are required to conduct a SHLAA under national policy. This Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment sets out the borough’s housing land supply for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2032. It updates the previous SHLAA published in April 2012.

2017 SHLAA Report and map

Any mapped boundaries provided in association with this report are for the purposes of the SHLAA only and have no other planning status. The SHLAA is only a technical assessment that does not allocate land for development but simply identifies land that might theoretically be developed for housing.

Christchurch SHLAA Report 2017

Assessment of housing potential for Christchurch and East Dorset

Housing land potential has been assessed for the plan area as a whole in line with the housing projection set out in Policy KS4 of the adopted Core Strategy (April 2014). The Christchurch SHLAA report needs to be read in conjunction with the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment - East Dorset.

Policy KS4 sets a housing target of 8,490 dwellings in Christchurch and East Dorset over the period 2013 – 2028. In view of housing completions from 2013 - 2017, the SHLAAs together need to identify 'developable' land for a minimum of 7,067 dwellings to meet the policy KS4 requirement.

The Christchurch and East Dorset SHLAAs together have identified land for 9,387 dwellings (Christchurch 3,588, East Dorset 5,799) which represents a surplus of 2,320 dwellings.

For the five year period 2017-2022 the assessments identified sufficient land for 3,930 dwellings (1,229 in Christchurch and 2,701 in East Dorset). This meets the 5 year requirement of 3,855 (including a 5% buffer as required by the NPPF), with a surplus of 75 dwellings.

Christchurch and East Dorset’s Five Year Supply Statement is informed by this SHLAA report.

As well as reviewing performance against the adopted Core Strategy, the SHLAA also forms part of the robust evidence base which will inform the emerging Local Plan Review for Christchurch and East Dorset.

Submitting new sites for assessment

We are happy to receive new sites at any time for consideration in future updates of the assessment, which may make a contribution to the overall housing land supply. These will feed in to the next available annual review of the SHLAA. Please complete a SHLAA site form and return it to Planning Policy.