BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 108564

Derbyniwyd: 07/03/2025

Ymatebydd: Corbally Group (Harbury) Ltd

Asiant : Pegasus Group

Paragraph 24 of the NPPF sets out the duty to cooperate, and Paragraph 36 is clear that for a plan to be positively prepared, unmet need from neighbouring areas must be accommodated where possible. Stratford forms part of the Greater Birmingham and Black Country Housing Market Area (GBBCHMA) and both Stratford and Warwick are in the Coventry and Warwickshire Housing Market Area. The latest position on housing need in the GBBCHMA is dated July 2020; this identified an unmet need of 40,325 dwellings, and a shortfall of 29,260 dwellings post-2031 in the Black Country alone. More recently, in the Birmingham Local Plan Review Preferred Options consultation document (July 2024), a shortfall of 46,153 dwellings over the period 2020 – 2042 was identified, with paragraph 3.5 stating that “the city will continue to be reliant on other local authorities to assist in meeting Birmingham's housing shortfall”. The evidence on shortfalls in the HMAs is out-of-date and should be refreshed as a matter of priority. To deliver the housing the HMAs require will necessitate a clear delineation of responsibility under the duty to cooperate to address any shortfalls, including through the SWLP Part 1.

In anticipation of there being significant shortfalls, in light of the scale of the previously evidenced shortfalls and the fact that various authorities in the HMAs have experienced significant increases in their housing requirements arising from the revised Standard Method, the Councils are encouraged to plan appropriately and allocate (reserve) sites for this purpose. It is considered that there is sufficient developable land in the large area of South Warwickshire to do so, as identified in the Strategic Growth Locations and potential new settlements, which can accommodate a significantly greater number of units than is required to meet Stratford and Warwick’s own needs. The Councils have a legal duty to cooperate and a responsibility to help address unmet needs, and for the SWLP Part 1 to be found sound, it is expected that it will need to do so.