Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

The importance of being able to demonstrate deliverability of planning policy has increased under government changes to the planning system. One of the more significant changes is the need to show an adequate supply of land to meet regional development requirements.

Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) requires all local authorities to produce and keep up to date a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). Detailed practice guidance on how to produce a SHLAA has been issued by the government. The Berkshire local authorities have expanded this national methodology to reflect local circumstances and achieve local consistency. RBWM published its first SHLAA in January 2009 and has been producing annual updates since this time.

The SHLAA includes details of where planning permission has been granted for housing and where other land may be available for development. It should be noted that for sites without planning permission the availability of land is a reflection of the landowner promoting their land for development. The inclusion of a site within the SHLAA does not indicate, earmark or determine whether the land is needed or suitable for development.

The SHLAA is not a policy setting document but is an important source of information. Decisions on planning policy will be made through the Local Development Framework (LDF) and will be subject to extensive consultation and independent examination.

The Council has completed an update to the SHLAA. The document can be downloaded below. Alternatively, the document can be purchased from the Planning Policy Unit in hard copy for £50 or on CD Rom for £20.

Do you have a site that you wish to promote for housing development?

The SHLAA will be updated annually. Should you own a piece of land which you believe may be suitable for housing and wish to notify the Council of its potential availability, a pro-forma is available below. The completed pro-forma must be accompanied with a location map indicating the proposed site outlined in red and should be returned to the address below. The sites promoted may be of any size and located anywhere throughout the Royal Borough.

It must be stressed that indicating the availability of a piece of land to the Council does not change the status of the land; inclusion of a site within the SHLAA is not an endorsement by the Council that the site is necessarily suitable for development.

For further information on this subject please contact:

Planning Policy Unit,
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead,
Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1RF.
Telephone: 01628 796303
E-mail: philip.hylton@rbwm.gov.uk

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Methodology

A consultation on a draft methodology was undertaken between Friday 16 November 2007 and Friday 7 December 2007. The first SHLAA report was published in January 2009, with annual updates since then.

•   Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment - Methodology (pdf 243KB)

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•   SHLAA: Main Report (January 2009) (pdf 562KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 1: Housing Commitments - Northern Parishes (pdf 768KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 2: Housing Commitments - Southern Parishes (pdf 410KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 3: SHLAA Sites Index Map and Cookham Rise (pdf 676KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 4: SHLAA Sites - North West Maidenhead (pdf 764KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 5: SHLAA Sites - South East Maidenhead (pdf 709KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 6: SHLAA Sites - Holyport and the Walthams Area (pdf 844KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 7: SHLAA Sites - West Windsor and Eton (pdf 634KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 8: SHLAA Sites - Windsor Town Centre Area (pdf 309KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 9: SHLAA Sites - South East Windsor (pdf 606KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 10: SHLAA Sites - Eton, North Datchet and Old Windsor (pdf 528KB)

•   SHLAA Maps Part 11: SHLAA Sites - Wraysbury and Sunningdale (pdf 723KB)

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•   SHLAA Maps Part 12: SHLAA Sites - Ascot Area (pdf 660KB)

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