Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA)

The Council have produced an updated SHLAA to form part of the evidence base to support the preparation of the new Plan:MK whilst also assisting in our annual monitoring and five year land supply reporting.

As outlined in the report, the SHLAA aims to assess the suitability and development potential of sites which could be available for housing development at some point in the next 15 years so as to inform any site allocations process undertaken as part of Plan:MK or that may need to be made further in the future. 

The 2017 SHLAA report and accompanying Appendix of Site Assessment Tables can be viewed at the following links:

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment Report 2017 

SHLAA 2017 Appendix 1: Table 1: Existing Commitments - Urban Area 

SHLAA 2017 Appendix 1: Table 2: Existing Commitments - Rural Area 

SHLAA 2017 Appendix 1: Table 3: Potential Urban Sites 

SHLAA 2017 Appendix 1: Table 4: Potential Urban Extension Sites 

Purpose of the SHLAA

The National Planning Policy Framework required the Council to produce a SHLAA as part of the evidence for plan making. The purpose of the SHLAA is to assess sites across the Borough with potential for housing development over the next 15 years. The SHLAA:

• Identify sites with potential for housing (the assessment only looks at new sites for a minimum of 10 units);
• Assesses their housing potential; and
• Assesses when they are likely to be developed.

The Assessment aims to identify as many suitable sites as possible so that the Council can demonstrate that sufficient potential housing land is available to deliver the strategic housing requirement for the Borough. The process is also used to identify a range of sites across the Borough from which choices can be made about where development could happen in the future if a need for more housing land is identified.

The inclusion of a site in the SHLAA does NOT mean that the Council supports development of the site, that planning permission will be granted for development or that a site will be allocated for development.

The document is simply a technical exercise to establish the availability and developability of potential sites that could be allocated to meet housing targets in the future. Existing policies that restrict development in areas across the Borough still apply even where a site is identified in the SHLAA.

Historic work

2012

The most recently produced SHLAA is the 2012 assessment which was prepared to replace the 2009 SHLAA and 2010 update. The 2012 SHLAA can be viewed at: Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2012

A revised methodology was used for the 2011/12 SHLAA. This was based on the Government Practice Guidance (2007).

The 2011/12 SHLAA methodology can be viewed at: SHLAA Methodology 2011/12

2009 Report and 2010 Update

The Council prepared a general update to the original 2009 SHLAA report during 2010. This was not a new SHLAA report, but updated the conclusions of the original assessment based on the completion of housing sites during 2009-10, the granting of new planning permissions in the year and changes in the housing market.

Both documents can be seen below.

The SHLAA report sets out the process undertaken and the conclusions of the assessment.

The appendix contains detailed lists of all sites considered in the assessment.



Published SHLAA Report 2009

SHLAA Appendix

SHLAA Sites Map

SHLAA Sites South East SDA

SHLAA Year by Year Forecast



The 2010 Update can be seen below. This contains revised mapping. For clarity, the 2010 Update should be read alongside the original report.



SHLAA Update: 2010