Minister intervenes in preparations for draft local plan over 10,000-home shortfall

Matthew Pennycook wrote to the unitary on Thursday (11 June), directing the council under section 27(2)(b) of the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act to submit all available evidence behind the shortfall of 10,980 homes.

In his letter, the minister said the 2004 Act can be exercised where the Secretary of State thinks that a local planning authority is failing or omitting to do anything it is necessary for it to do in connection with the preparation, revision or adoption of a development plan document.

Pennycook expressed concern that an up-to-date Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) is also yet to be published and that the council has failed to respond to MHCLG on when this document may be released.

"Without updated evidence on land availability, it is not possible to reach a conclusion on whether the council has taken a sufficiently robust approach to the identification of suitable sites for development and, therefore, whether the plan stands a reasonable chance of being found sound at examination," he warned.

The minister said he believed that the council’s proposal of a housing requirement "which falls well below LHN in its draft plan, combined with the aforementioned lack of published evidence to support this approach, meets the legal threshold for intervention".

The letter added: "Therefore, I am directing the council under section 27(2)(b) of the 2004 Act to submit to me all available evidence base documents which inform your conclusion that only 42% of local housing need can be met through your emerging plan.

"This should include an updated HELAA (including consideration of sites proposed in the most recent Call for Sites in 2025), along with any relevant studies the Council has commissioned on matters such as constraints, residential densities, impacts on National Landscape or other landscape impacts, and any housing-related topic papers that the Council has produced to date."

Torbay now has three weeks to provide the information. The minister will then consider the evidence and determine whether further use of the Secretary of State’s powers under section 21 and/or section 27 of the 2004 Act "is required to make the plan satisfactory".

In January this year, Torbay said it was taking “a robust 'no stone left unturned' approach” to find land for homes and other development, but “environmental constraints and a shortage of suitable land mean it is unable to achieve the Government's highly ambitious target for Torbay".

Adam Carey