Housing FAQs

Q1 Has the Council confronted the Government about its high housing target given the constrained nature of the Borough?
Q2 Why did Spelthorne Council not challenge the number of houses required when the standard method was introduced?
Q3 What happens if private development achieves the 618 dwellings per annum requirement? Will the allocated sites remain?
Q4 Does the Council have to meet its housing need in full?
Q5 What happens if the Government reduced the housing need figures before adoption of the Local Plan?
Q6 What can the Local Plan do to ensure greater delivery of affordable housing?
Q7 How many of these proposed homes will be council housing which could benefit our vulnerable community members, youngsters or our key workers?
Q8 How many empty homes are in the Borough and can these be used to meet housing needs?
Q9 How many homeless families are there in Spelthorne?

Q1 Has the Council confronted the Government about its high housing target given the constrained nature of the Borough?

Councillors and officers previously met with the Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government in 2019 to raise our concerns about the high housing figure for Spelthorne, whilst the Council also expressed its concerns in writing in January 2021.  A response confirmed that local authorities should continue to use the standard method for calculating housing need. 

We are undertaking further work on this topic in-house and will maintain a dialogue with MHCLG to develop a local plan that best meets the needs of the community, both now and in the future.

Q2 Why did Spelthorne Council not challenge the number of houses required when the standard method was introduced?

Spelthorne joined the other Surrey Authorities in objecting to the standard method for calculating housing need. However, at the time our housing need using the previous method was between 552 and 757 homes per year so the standard method figure was towards the lower end of the range we already had. We then objected individually and collectively with other Surrey authorities when the Government would not let councils use the 2016-based household growth projections instead of the 2014-based, which would have seen our need figure reduced substantially - to approximately 322 dwellings per annum. Despite the publication of the 2018 projections, the Government has confirmed that the 2014-based projections should continue to be used.  We will continue to monitor how any policy changes may impact on housing requirements, particularly following the publication of the most recent Planning White Paper which can be viewed here. The proposals set out within this document are expected to materialise in due course.

Q3 What happens if private development achieves the 618 dwellings per annum requirement? Will the allocated sites remain?

The Council updates annually its Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA), which identifies all potential development sites in the urban area. The SLAA 2021 identifies a supply of 8,557 units in the urban area, which leaves a deficit of 713 units against the 9,270 units required over the 15-year plan period (618 x 15). The Council is currently updating the SLAA for 2022, data may vary slightly from the figures set Pre-submission Plan, which uses more up-to-date information.

Whilst we have tried to boost our supply in the urban area through a Call for Sites in March 2021, we still have a deficit and we are unable to meet our needs on brownfield land alone. Even if the private brownfield development sites are delivered, we would not be able to meet our housing needs in full, therefore we need to consider allocating Green Belt sites to boost housing delivery for the community.

Q4 Does the Council have to meet its housing need in full?

Whilst it may be appealing to consider producing a Plan that does not meet our needs in full this will not be a sound strategy and would be rejected by the Planning Inspector. Those few authorities that have attempted this approach since the introduction of the standard methodology have failed. Our housing need is high (611 pa), we have years of under-delivery against the latest objectively assessed need figures and we have areas of Green Belt that are not performing against its stated aim, that have already been built on or that could bring additional benefits to our communities. Whilst it may be tempting to allow the Inspector to reject our Plan rather than progress a sound strategy ourselves, a failure to progress a sound strategy at this stage would result in a delay of at least a year that runs the significant risk of having the production of our Plan dealt with directly by the Secretary of State or a body such as Surrey County Council as it will be clear by that stage that there is little prospect of meeting the deadline. It also opens up the potential for larger, more strategically important unallocated Green Belt sites to come forward for development with greater prospect of success without a sound Local Plan progressing.

Starting the plan again from scratch will lead to significant time delays and cost implications therefore it is in the best interest of the Borough to develop a plan to meet the needs of the community with input from local stakeholders.

Q5 What happens if the Government reduced the housing need figures before adoption of the Local Plan?

We are now at the formal Regulation 19 stage of the Local Plan, when we consult on the submission version and seek comments on whether the Plan is 'sound' (please see further information on soundness elsewhere in the FAQs). We are planning to submit in Autumn 2022 and we would expect an examination to take place in Spring 2023 with adoption in Summer 2023, although these timescales after submission are in the hands of the Planning Inspectorate. If the Inspector considers our Plan to be 'sound', it will be for the Council to decide whether to adopt it and that would take place at a public meeting of the Council. At any point before adoption, the Council can decide to withdraw the Plan if there is a significant change such as to the Government's standard methodology for calculating housing need. The Inspector themselves may even suggest the Council reconsiders its approach to housing in the Local Plan if we are already at the examination. Amendments to the Plan could then be made to take account of the changes.

Q6 What can the Local Plan do to ensure greater delivery of affordable housing?

The draft Local Plan as a whole has been viability assessed by expert consultants. They have reviewed the overall strategy, the policies and the site allocations. When developers want to build a scheme, there will be costs that they need to take into account, such as normal constructions costs and purchase of the land, but there will be policies in the Local Plan that also need to be met by the developer in order to make the scheme acceptable in planning terms and these also come with a cost. These include works to the highway, provision of open space and affordable housing. It's important that we ensure the developer can cover these costs and still make a reasonable profit on the scheme otherwise they won't be able to build the homes and other forms of development we need. That is why we undertake a viability assessment on the Local Plan and once it has been adopted it will be much harder for developers to come back later and say a scheme is not viable as they should have factored in the costs when they purchased the land. There will always be unforeseen costs that could affect viability, such as finding contaminated land or even something like another global issue in future like the pandemic which affects constructions costs, but we would do a further viability assessment if the policy costs could not be met when the developer makes a planning application.

Q7 How many of these proposed homes will be council housing which could benefit our vulnerable community members, youngsters or our key workers?

Our Strategic Housing Market Assessment breaks down our overall housing need figure into the needs of various groups of the community, for example those requiring accessible homes, and indicates how much we need to provide to meet these needs. Our housing policies have been informed by this evidence and each individual site allocation will set out the requirements for different types of homes.

Q8 How many empty homes are in the Borough and can these be used to meet housing needs?

As of May 2019, there were a total of 423 empty homes in Spelthorne. With a dwelling stock of 42,000, this represents 1% of properties being empty. In support of the Government's initiative to tackle the shortfall in national housing, Spelthorne Borough Council is currently undertaking a review of empty Council Tax properties. A survey to assist with this exercise is available via the Council's Council Tax webpage.

Q9 How many homeless families are there in Spelthorne?

The number of rough sleepers in Spelthorne fluctuates however it is thought that around 10 people are sleeping rough across the Borough at any one time. The Council's housing options team has an active caseload of over 250 households in bed and breakfast or temporary accommodation, of which around 25% are outside Spelthorne.