How Many Homes would be Right for Waverley?
We need your views to decide on the number of new homes that it would be acceptable to build in Waverley in the coming years.
Please read the following information and then make your choice of option by taking part in the survey. There is also the opportunity for you to suggest other options and leave comments.
Between 15 September and 13 October 2010, we want your suggestions to help us make decisions on the number of new homes that should be built in the next 15 years and beyond. Your views have never been more important as the home building numbers will impact on future planning policies in the borough.
The Coalition Government has removed nationally and regionally imposed home building targets. Instead local councils like Waverley are now allowed to work with their communities to further understand how many homes should be built in their area. This approach removes the need for a document you may have heard of called the South East Plan. This document dictated that 5,000 homes should be built in Waverley between 2006 and 2026.
In working with you to decide on a suitable home building number, we will need to consider:
-
The demand and need for homes in Waverley
-
The amount of land available that homes could be built on in the borough
-
The impact further homes would have on the road network, hospitals, school places and other infrastructure.
The options
We would like you to tell us which of the following three options you think is right for the borough as a target for the number of homes to be built in the coming years. There is also an opportunity as part of this consultation to put forward your own suggestions.
Option 1 – a number based on the South East Plan: This is what we were working towards
Although scrapped, the South East Plan was researched, developed and consulted on during a six year period and contained a lot of useful information. Waverley’s target was set at between 230 and 250 new homes a year until 2026.
Option 2 – a number based on an estimate of land available to build homes on: This is likely to mean fewer homes being built than if we continued with option 1
This would be based on building on suitable land within towns and villages and without building significantly on areas in the open countryside in Waverley. It would involve building on land that had been previously built on. However, it is not possible, at this stage, to say precisely what the figure would be as this will be subject to assessments of what housing land is available within towns, villages and surrounding areas being completed. It is likely to be less than the 5,000 homes that was recommended in the South East Plan and probably in the region of between 150 and 200 homes a year.
Option 3 – a number based on the need and demand for homes in Waverley: This is likely to mean more homes being built than in option 1
This approach would take account of issues such as increases in population and the need that has already been identified for open market and affordable housing.
The likelihood is that to meet local need and demand for homes, the housing number would be higher than the figure in the South East Plan. The priority would still be for development to take place within towns and villages but evidence suggests there would be more pressure for homes on land not previously built on, most likely in the countryside and rural areas. The number of homes that could be required to be built could be 300 a year or more.
Key issues
- More than 3,400 households, mostly local people with links to Waverley communities, are currently on Waverley’s Housing Needs Register needing an affordable home.
- Latest evidence suggests there is an annual unmet need for 515 affordable homes – properties available for rent, to buy or part buy/part rent below open market values.
- Demand for new homes is high in Waverley. Last year the average house price in the borough was £403,582 while nationally this figure was £238,341.
- In the last nine years the average number of homes built in Waverley in each year was 257.
Further information
If you would like more detailed information about the options, please click on the 'supporting documents' tab below, to download the technical document: Setting a Local Housing Target for the Waverley Borough LDF Core Strategy
If would like more information about the Waverley Borough LDF programme and other evidence documents please go to Local Development Framework Information
Thank you for taking part in this consultation.
The event is not currently available for consultation.