What is SHLAA?
A SHLAA is a technical exercise to assess the amount and nature of land that could be made available for housing development. It is part of the evidence base that will inform the plan making process. A SHLAA must be prepared by local authorities with involvement of external interests, including house builders, in a “Partnership”. Government advice makes clear that areas of countryside and green belt should not be ruled out of the assessment.
The Leeds SHLAA Partnership was made up of representatives of the housing industry, the HCA, the Property Forum, CPRE, Renew and council officers.
The process
Leeds undertook its SHLAA between summer 2008 and the end of 2009 and reached conclusions on over 750 sites. The final report was agreed by the Leeds SHLAA Partnership on 4th January 2010 and approved for publication by Leeds City Council Executive Board on 12th February 2010. The sites considered included those already known to the Council through internal monitoring arrangements as well as new sites generated by the “call for sites” that was issued in September 2008.
Most conclusions reached were by compromise and consensus, although the CPRE had concerns that a number of green belt sites should be concluded as “No” for suitability and some of the house builders felt that student cluster flats should be excluded from dwelling numbers.
SHLAA and the planning process
It should be noted that inclusion of a site within the SHLAA does not imply support for development. It is the planning policies of Leeds City Council as well as national and regional planning policy which will determine suitability for development. Where sites are classified in the SHLAA as “LDF to determine” this means that the City Council’s LDF Core Strategy and Site Allocations DPD will determine the extent to which these sites will actually contribute in practice. Many sites within this category will not be needed or are likely to be inappropriate from a policy perspective.
Implications of the economic downturn
The depressed economic and housing market conditions of 2009 had a significant impact on the conclusions reached. The first hand experience and knowledge of Leeds housing market held by Partnership Members ensured that initial thinking about housing mix, densities and types, particularly apartments in the city centre based on buoyant market conditions had to be recalibrated to reflect new realities. The result was the initial dwelling capacities and estimated delivery dates of sites (often with planning permission) were reduced and re-apportioned to later years.
Whilst the SHLAA looks forward to 2026 its findings are founded in current economic circumstances and it can be expected that the position will improve and more sites come forward as the market improves. It has been agreed that the SHLAA will be updated in April/May from its initial base date of 1st April 2009. This will enable forecasts to be checked against reality and recast, which is important given the changing economic climate.
Documents available
- SHLAA 2009 Final Report: provides an account of the methodology, the overall dwelling totals by category and time period and the headline conclusions for each site. The location maps are provided seperately.
- SHLAA 2009 Final Report - Appendices
- Full Report: runs to over 2000 pages which provides detailed information about each site and commentary on the conclusions.
- 58 maps provides the boundaries of each site: reference map and grouped location maps
.