NPPF HO2: Setting requirement figures for homes

HO2: Setting requirement figures for homes 1. Spatial development strategies should establish a housing requirement, and set pitch and plot requirements where a need has been identified, for each local planning authority within the strategy area. These figures should not be retested as part of local plan preparation unless there has been a significant change in circumstances which affects the overall requirement and its distribution to each local planning authority area. 2. Where a spatial development strategy is not in place, local plans should establish the housing requirement figure and pitch and plot requirements for their area, taking account of any relevant emerging spatial development strategy. 3. Housing requirement figures should: a. Reflect the extent to which the identified needs of the area can be accommodated over the plan period as a minimum, in accordance with policy S1; and b. Be higher than the overall figure identified in the local housing needs assessment where appropriate. This includes situations where a higher housing requirement is necessary to meet the needs of neighbouring areas, or to reflect growth ambitions linked to economic development or infrastructure investment. 4. Pitch and plot requirements should reflect the extent to which identified permanent and transit site accommodation needs of travellers in the area can be accommodated over the plan period as fully as possible, in accordance with policy S1. 5. In the case of local plans, a housing requirement figure should also be set for designated neighbourhood plan areas, unless it is impractical to do so (because a neighbourhood planning area has been designated at a late stage in the local plan preparation process, or after the plan has been adopted, or in instances where the local plan is out of date; in which case the local planning authority should provide an indicative figure instead). This requirement figure should take into account factors such as the latest evidence of local housing need, the population of the neighbourhood area and the most recently available planning strategy of the local planning authority. Local planning authorities should avoid setting housing requirement figures for neighbourhood planning areas at nil other than where: a. The local plan already meets or exceeds the housing need figure for the neighbourhood planning area; or b. The neighbourhood planning area has a clear and well evidenced need for no additional housing; or c. The constraints within the neighbourhood planning area are so substantial as to preclude any additional housing of any kind from coming forward.