BASE HEADER

No

ID sylw: 108735

Derbyniwyd: 19/03/2025

Ymatebydd: King Henry VIII Endowed Trust (Warwick)

Asiant : Savills

We object to Draft Policy B as currently worded. We consider that the requirement for 5% of the developable area of sites of more than 100 dwellings to be made available for self-build and custom-build homes does not reflect existing residual demand across the SWLP area. Planning Practice Guidance (Paragraph:011 Reference ID: 57-011-20210208) states that local authorities should use the demand data from the registers in their area to understand and consider future need for this type of housing in their area. The Warwick District Council Authority Monitoring Report (2022-23) identifies a residual unmet demand of 35 plots (p.33) for the monitoring period. Table 3 in the Stratford-on-Avon Self-Build and Custom Housing Position Statement (December 2024) showed a surplus of 18 plots in the most recent monitoring year (2020/21). We do not consider that this provides sufficient evidence to justify a 5% requirement. Furthermore, we consider that the modest residual demand (and slight surplus in Stratford District) suggests that the market is already delivering sufficient housing of this type without the need for a specific policy requirement. The unevidenced requirement potentially represents an unnecessary delay to housing delivery later down the line, where marketing of these plots is required.
We consider that there is insufficient evidence to justify the requirement for allocated plots to be delivered at a range of costs, sizes and types, in accordance with the latest identified local need. We consider this policy requirement to be overly prescriptive and reliant on factors which are out of the control of housebuilders who will be expected to provide serviced plots of land as part of larger sites. It is also considered to be likely that individuals wishing to build their own homes will prefer to do so on smaller sites as opposed to at large urban extension sites. Therefore, we consider that small scale self/custom build sites should be identified specifically to meet identified needs for this type of development. We consider that if a bespoke call for sites exercise was undertaken in respect of custom and self-build opportunities (e.g. for sites of 1Ha or less) then the Council would be inundated with landowner responses willing to have their land identified as being available for custom and self-build opportunities for small scale development.