New Forest District Council has ‘significant’ concerns over proposed housing targets in National Planning Policy Framework

“SIGNIFICANT” concerns have been raised by New Forest District Council over government plans to hike housing targets as part of changes to national planning policies.

As reported in the A&T, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is undergoing a review which seeks views on changes to housing targets, greenbelt land and increasing planning fees.

The government is proposing to move to a “crude” stock-based approach to calculating housing need, which will see an increase of 1,465 homes a year for the New Forest, compared with the current Local Plan target of 521.

In a statement, the council said there will be “significant difficulty” in meeting the revised housing target – a figure to which the council has never been close in previous Local Plans. The council added it was also mindful of recent requests from two neighbouring authorities to accommodate their existing unmet housing needs.

There is concern the NPPF lacks “necessary guidance” to ensure sustainable growth or support the objectives of the national park.

The council’s cabinet member for planning and economy, Cllr Derek Tipp, said: “The New Forest is a nationally and internationally significant landscape that requires careful stewardship.

“We are committed to delivering new homes to meet local needs, but statements made by the government expecting every local area to adopt a plan to meet the prescribed housing needs presents a deeply confusing message to unique areas with such limitations as ours. We also want to make sure that local people have a chance to inform the development of our Local Plan.”

The council previously confirmed its intentions to review its Local Plan, which was published in 2020 and sets out a vision for development outside the national park. The plan must be reviewed every five years but, since its adoption, a number of policies have been deemed no longer relevant or require significant updating, while some have been superseded by standard national policies.

Despite the council submitting detailed feedback to the government during the consultation process, it says “initial indications” suggest several key issues raised by NFDC and other stakeholders have not been adequately addressed in the final framework.

The council says it will now “carefully consider” the government’s response to its representations and assess the implications of the revised framework in detail to determine its next steps.