More planning applications are being granted in the county than ever before – but Wiltshire Council is still well below its mandated target, it emerged this week.
Local planning authorities in England must show a minimum five‑year supply of deliverable housing land against their identified housing requirement.
Wiltshire Council this week confirmed it has a 2.8 year supply of deliverable housing land – up from 2.4 years.
But that’s still enough to meet the government’s target – and that matters because developers are using it to win planning permission for new housing estates around the county.
And if planning officers or councillors reject the application, they’ll use the argument at a planning appeal.
One year of housing supply currently equates to around 3,500 homes – or 17,500 over five years.
This week, Cllr Ian Thorn, leader of Wiltshire Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We’ve seen an improvement in our housing land supply, which reflects more planning permissions coming forward and progress on key sites.
“But at 2.8 years we’re still below the five-year requirement that the government has set us, so national planning policy continues to apply – and that can lead to more speculative planning applications.
“This improvement reflects a combination of factors, including more planning permissions being granted by the council and developers making progress on the delivery of major sites.”
And he admitted: “Reaching a full five-year housing land supply is very challenging under the current system, because of the scale of increased housing delivery that is expected and timely delivery being dependent on house builders actually bringing forward sites – including large strategic developments which can take years to come forward.
“We are continuing to grant planning applications and support housing delivery, which will help improve the position over time, and this sustained progress will help to close the gap.”
He said the publication of Wiltshire’s new Local Plan would play a “critical role” in improving land supply.
Wiltshire Council voted to withdraw its draft Wiltshire Local Plan and effectively restart the process at a full council meeting in May, after planning inspectors raised serious “soundness” concerns about the submitted plan.
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A 30-month process to create a new local plan will start in October – and it won’t be ready until 2029.
“Once adopted, it will deliver a housing land supply of more than five years by allocating sufficient deliverable sites for development and providing greater certainty about where growth should go and what infrastructure should be provided,” said Cllr Thorn.
“That certainty helps bring forward deliverable sites and strengthens the council’s position when making planning decisions and defending planning appeals.”
For the latest public notices and planning applications in your area, visit www.publicnoticeportal.uk