Council to have less power to refuse housing plans

The authority's numbers were contested during May's planning appeal over proposals for 83 homes (generic image)

Warwick District Council will have less power to refuse housing plans, after an inspector ruled it had overestimated the probable delivery of new homes.

National planning inspector Steve Lee ruled the authority could not evidence the number of homes it said would be built out over the next five years on 14 different sites allocated for housing.

A spokesperson said the council had been "disappointed" by the verdict.

The authority's numbers were contested during May's planning appeal over proposals for 83 homes next to Warwickshire Police's headquarters in Leek Wootton.

The council lost that and had to pay costs.

As part of that challenge, developer Cala Homes argued the council could not demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

Rules state councils must have enough land dedicated to meet targets for new homes for the next five years.

They also say enough of those homes must be deliverable in that period in order for its local plan to carry full weight when planning applications come forward.

Position 'will fluctuate'

The district's latest published calculation from October last year was that it had 6,450 deliverable homes in the pipeline, a figure it revised to 6,112 when challenged during the appeal.

Cala's own calculation was 4,472, and while Mr Lee accepted in many cases the homes would eventually come forward, he chalked off almost 1,200 from the council’s number in his assessment of what could realistically be delivered in the next five years.

The inspector's conclusion was that as things stood in May, 4,914 homes were likely to be delivered across the district across the five-year period, enough to equate to 4.01 years' worth of supply.

A spokesperson for Warwick District Council said it had "decided not to challenge" the ruling following legal advice.

They added that all councillors had been briefed, with the planning committee specifically informed "on the implications".

It was noted that the position "will fluctuate" but that "it is likely that the council will find itself without a five-year housing land supply for a period of time".

A refreshed position is set to be published "within the next month", but that "is very likely to indicate that the council continues to have a housing land supply position of less than five years".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.