Housing Land Audit 2023
Introduction
The annual Housing Land Audit (HLA) is a statement of housing land supply within the administrative boundary of Argyll and Bute Council (excluding the area of the Council that is part of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park).
The HLA contains two main sections.
The first section monitors the numbers of housing completions over a range of years and provides details of the numbers, where they have been occurring and numbers of ‘affordable’ and ‘market’ homes. It provides details of completions from both the last year as well as comparison figures from preceding years
The second section details housing land supply and progress towards meeting the Local Housing Land Requirement as set out in Proposed Local Development Plan 2. It provides details of actively monitored sites that include Proposed Local Development Plan 2 allocations and Potential Development Areas as well as other land with planning consent for residential development of 5 or more dwellings (known as large windfall sites).
This section also includes details of small windfall sites which are non-LDP identified sites for less than 5 dwellings that have extant planning consent.
The HLA provides a snapshot of the picture of availability of housing land on 31st March 2023* and monitors the current progress towards meeting the Local Housing Land Requirement contained in Proposed Local Development Plan 2.
The audit is therefore an integral part of monitoring the progress of the housing supply as set out in Proposed Local Development Plan 2* and the information provided by this and future audits will help inform the identification of land supply in future LDPs.
*The report into the examination of Proposed Local Development Plan 2 was received on 9 th June 2023 and has been taken into account with regards to consideration of housing land supply and the actively monitored sites.
Completions
Completions by Administrative Area
The map opposite indicates the geographic distribution of completions in 2022/23 relative to the Administrative Areas.
The year 2022/23 saw 338 completions which is an increase of 39 from the previous year and the highest number of yearly completions since 2008-09 (Figure 1).
The figure of 338 completions in 2022/23 is above the overall 15 year average of 255 and above the average number of completions over the 5 years preceding this audit (240).
Figure 1 shows the breakdown of completions by Administrative Area for the period 2008/09 to 2022/23. The map shows the position of these completions relative to the Administrative Areas.
Completions by Housing Market Area
The map opposite indicates the geographic distribution of completions in 2022/23 relative to the Housing Market Areas.
Figure 2 shows the breakdown of completions by Housing Market Area for the last 8 years.
Completions by Development Management/Control Zones
The current Local Development Plan was adopted in March 2015, replacing the 2009 Local Plan. The Local Development Plan introduced changes to the proposals maps which included revisions and alterations to the designations that were previously known as Development Control Zones including their renaming as Development Management Zones.
Completions for the years 2015-2023 (Figure 3) have been broken down as per the Development Management Zones set out in the adopted 2015 Local Development Plan. These indicate that the majority (78%) of completions occurred in Local Development Plan identified settlements with the other 25% being outside settlements in the Rural Opportunity Areas (11%), Countryside Zone (11%) and Green Belt (5%).*
*Due to changes to the Development Management Zones between the 2009 Local Plan and adopted 2015 Local Development Plan the related planning consent for some completions may have been granted in a different Development Management Zone to the completion itself.
With specific regards to completions in 2022/23, Figure 4 sets out the breakdown by Development Management Zone and these are shown on the map opposite.
Completions on Allocations/Potential Development Areas and Windfall Sites
The Local Development Plan identifies allocations as well as Potential Development Areas (PDAs), these PDAs being areas where specific development opportunities may be supported where known constraints can be overcome. The Housing Land Audit reports on numbers of completions on both allocations and PDAs.
Any completions that are not on an allocation or a PDA are known as windfall.
Figures 5 and 6 show a yearly breakdown of completions on Allocations, Potential Development Areas and windfall sites since 2008/09.
Whilst historically in most years windfall sites have accounted for the majority of completions, following three successive years where the number of completions on allocations and windfall sites were roughly the same the year 2022/23 saw allocations count for the majority.
Figure 7 details the specific allocation or PDA for the 225 completions in 2022/23 on such sites.
Windfall Completions
Any completions that are not on an allocation or a PDA are known as windfall.
Figure 8 shows the number of windfall completions in the different Development Management Zones for 2022/23 and the map opposite shows these relative to the Development Management Zones.
Figures 9 and 10 show the number of windfall completions in the different Development Management Zones for the last 8 years. Figures 11 and 12 combine these to provide overall trends for those same completions but with the Development Management Zones grouped into settlement and countryside areas. The figures show that the main peaks and troughs in completion rates relates to the Main Town settlements with other zones only showing smaller fluctuations.
With specific regards to windfall completions in 2022/23, the majority (72%) occurred within the Local Development Plan Settlement Zones with the remainder occurring in countryside zones (Figure 11).
Completions - Affordable Homes and Market Homes
Of the 338 completions in 2022-23, 177 were ‘affordable’ units and 161 were ‘market’ units. The locations of these are shown on the map opposite (blue spots = affordable, red spots = market).
The breakdown of affordable and market completions by administrative area and Housing Market Area for the last 7 years area are shown in Figures 13 to 16 with associated graphs in figures 17 to 20.
The 177 affordable completions in 2022-23 represented 52% of the total number. The percentage breakdown of affordable/market units for the years 2015/16 to 2022/23 is shown in figure 21.
Housing Land Supply
Scottish Planning Policy (2014) previously set out requirements on local planning authorities relating to housing land supply including the provision of a minimum 5 years effective land supply at all times (an effective site being one where it could be demonstrated to be free of constraints within 5 years).
Scottish Planning Policy was superseded by National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) on 13th February 2023. NPF4 requires that Local Development Plans set out a Local Housing Land Requirement which is expected to exceed the 10 year Minimum All-Tenure Housing Land Requirement (MATHLR). The MATHLR for Argyll and Bute as set out within NPF4 is 2150 units and this has been translated within Proposed Local Development Plan 2 into a LHLR of 3000 homes for a 10 year period commencing from 2020.
NPF4 sets out that the Housing Land Audit will monitor the delivery of housing land. The publication of Scottish Government Guidance relating to Housing Land Audits is anticipated during the 2023-24 auditing year and this will be used to help inform future audits.
Delivery of Housing Land Against MATHLR and LHLR to Date
NPF4 sets out the MATHLR for Argyll and Bute is 2150 units.
The LHLR for the 10 period from 2020 as set out in PLDP2 is 3000 units.
The total number of completions between 1/4/2020 and 31/3/2023 is 869 units.
Taking into account completions since 2020 the total remaining number of units from the MATHLR is 1281 and from the LHLR is 2131.
The 869 completions over the past 3 years represents 40% of the MATHLR and 29% of the LHLR and figures 22 and 23 chart this progress towards meeting the MATHLR and LHLR.
Total Housing Land Supply
The total housing land supply sets out the amount of land that is available for housing and comprises; the remaining capacity of all Housing Land Audit Sites (Allocations, Potential Development Areas and Large Windfall Sites) as well the remaining capacity of all small windfall sites with extant planning consent (Planning Permission and Planning Permission in Principle for less than 5 units and not on an allocation or Potential Development Area).
Figure 24 details the total housing land supply by Administrative Area. The total remaining Housing Land Supply is 4372 units.
Land Supply for the LHLR Period
The 10 year programming of the Housing Land Audit Sites is shown in Appendix 1. This can also be seen by clicking on any HLA site on the map.
The remainder of 10 year LHLR period covers the dates 2023-2030 and will take into account another 7 years of programming. The total number of units programmed for these 7 years is 2006 and this is broken down by Administrative Area in Figure 25.
Figure 25 also includes the remaining capacity of small windfall sites with ‘full’ planning consent (Planning Permission) as well as a future windfall allowance. This allowance is based on 25% of the LHLR (as set out in PLDP2) but reduced by 10% year on year for each year of the 10 year LHLR period that has already passed. For 2023 the 25% allowance of 750 units has therefore been reduced by three years (225) units to give a total of 525 units.
Notes
The figures given are the number of housing units. All figures exclude Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
The information contained here or anywhere else within the Housing Land Audit does not constitute a formal decision regarding the commencement or implementation of any planning consent.
The ‘spot’ positions for the Small Windfall sites shown on the map should be seen as general locations and not an absolute location of any building plot.
The site outlines for Allocations and Potential Development Areas shown on the map do not necessarily reflect the outlines of the sites as contained in the adopted Local Development Plan and/or Proposed Local Development Plan 2.
Completed Sites
Figure 26 shows the Housing Land Audit sites that have now completed their housing developments and therefore no longer form part of the housing land supply.
The completed sites are shown on the map.
Appendices
Appendix 1 details the programming of the Housing Land Audit Sites
Appendix 2 details the windfall sites for less than 5 units with planning consent