Stockport, Lancaster, Chorley fail Housing Delivery Test
The three North West local authorities will now have to treat residential planning applications with a presumption in favour of approval, formulate an action plan to stimulate residential delivery, and add a 20% buffer to their housing land supply.
Regarding the presumption in favour of approval, this will apply to all housing applications that comply with an up-to-date development plan, are situated on unprotected sites, and where the downsides of development do not significantly outweigh the benefits.
The news comes from the Housing Delivery Test results, which were published by government on Monday. HDT measures the number of homes needed compared to those that were built. The latest rendition looks at the years between 2022 and 2025.
Of the three councils, Stockport was the furthest behind in meeting housing demand, with only 43% of the homes needed actually delivered. This equated to 1,457 homes being built against the need of 3,408.
There were supposed to be more than a thousand homes built during each year of the HDT’s timeframe in the borough. Stockport Council came nowhere close to meeting this figure, with the best performing year (2023-2024) seeing 621 homes built.
The council is working to address this and is at work developing a local plan.
Lancaster City Council fared slightly better, with 48% of the homes needed delivered. The housing need over the three years was 1,271 for the area, roughly 400 a year. However, only half of those – 612 – were actually built.
Chorley Council met 63% of its housing demand, with 986 of the homes needed in the area being delivered against the 1,553-home target.
While the HDT figures are newly reported, all three councils have had a tilted balance towards residential development in place already due to not having a five-year housing land supply. Stockport Council has a 1.8-year housing land supply, Lancaster City Council’s is 2.8 years, and Chorley Council’s is 3.4 years.
Manchester City Council and Trafford Council were also found to be lacking when it comes to housing delivery, with Manchester meeting 75% of its housing need and Trafford 83%.
This equated to 7,972 homes being built in Manchester rather than 10,599 identified as needed and 2,046 homes in Trafford rather than the needed 2,451.
Accordingly, these two councils will need to create an action plan to find ways to increase residential development and will need to 20% buffer to their housing land supply sites.
Liverpool City Council and Bolton Council both delivered 87% of their housing need. In this case of Liverpool, this meant 4,528 homes were built rather than the full 5,217 identified as needed. In Bolton, this was 2,023 homes being constructed against the need of 2,321.
These two councils will need to come up with an action plan.
The remaining councils in the North West passed HDT, meaning they met more than 96% of their housing need during the 2022-2025 timespan.
All seven councils named in this story have been approached for comment.
