BASE HEADER

Yes

ID sylw: 107920

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Catesby Estates Ltd

Asiant : Stantec

Under the Duty to Co-operate, the Council is obliged to engage proactively with neighbouring authorities to address strategic cross boundary issues. This includes a potential need to accommodate ‘unmet need’ from the Coventry and Warwickshire Housing Market Area (HMA)
and the Greater Birmingham and Black Country HMA. While both Stratford and Warwick districts are located within the Coventry and Warwickshire HMA, only Stratford lies within the Greater Birmingham and Black Country HMA.
The most recent GBBCHMA Position Statement Addendum was published in April 2023, reporting a total shortfall of some 106,654 dwellings with total contributions of only 18,181 dwellings committed. These figures are now out-of-date on account of Local Plan progress and revisions to the calculation of Local Housing Need derived from the Standard Method. However, it is understood that work is underway to update the Position Statement to 2025, and we still expect this work to still identify a significant deficit in supply across the GBBCHMA. This shortfall should be taken into account in the preparation of the South Warwickshire Local Plan.
Draft Policy Direction 4 sets out, the Councils will commit to “continually consider this need and work with those authorities on how this can be achieved.”
In this regard, Draft Policy Direction 4 suggests that reserve sites will be released for this purpose, or when the relevant authority’s 5-year housing land supply calculation falls below the thresholds set out in national planning policy guidance.
Whilst this is commendable in theory, it is not understood how the Councils intend to allocate reserves sites through the SWLP when the scale or type of development need has not yet been determined. For example, there is no direction as to the scale or number of sites that are
required.
Nonetheless, regarding location, it is logical to look to deliver unmet development needs as close as possible to where they arise. This principle further supports the allocation of land adjacent to the southern edge of Coventry, including Land at Gibbet Hill, although this should be brought forward as an allocation rather than a reserve site.