Annual Monitoring Report, including Five Year Housing Land Supply

Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory 2019 and Five Year Housing Land Supply calculations: Have Your Say!

The Greater Cambridge housing trajectory is used by us to calculate our five year housing land supply and also to demonstrate that anticipated housing delivery will meet or exceed our housing requirement.

We have reviewed and updated the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and our five year housing land supply calculations, and our conclusion is that the Councils’ jointly have 5.3 years of housing land supply for the 2019-2024 five year period.

• Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply – Main Document 
• Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply – Annex:

• Contents, Notes and A1. Evidence of Lead-In Times, Lapse Rates, Build Out Rates and Windfalls
• A2. Completed Questionnaires and Emails, and Responses C1-C40
• Responses GC1-GC19
• Responses SC1-SC43
• Responses SC44-SC86

Taking account of national planning policy and guidance, we are now giving you the opportunity to comment on the housing trajectory and five year housing land supply calculations. Comments can be made between 9am on Monday 16 September and 5pm on Monday 14 October 2019. 

How to Have Your Say

There are a number of ways that you can comment:

• View the documents and make comments online using the interactive online consultation system;
• Complete the consultation response form and email it to us at: ldf@scambs.gov.uk; or
• Print the consultation response form, complete it and post it to us (our postal address is on the consultation response form). 

Note: Comments, including names, will be available to view on the Councils’ websites. Full comments including addresses will also be available to view on request. Our privacy notice for planning policy consultations and notifications sets out how your personal data will be used and by whom.

What Happens Next?

After the end of the consultation, we will consider all the comments received, and where necessary make changes to the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five year housing land supply calculations. The Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply document will then be re-issued in its final form.

As the Councils can demonstrate a five year housing land supply for Greater Cambridge, our planning policies in the adopted Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire Local Plans 2018 will be given full weight in decisions on planning applications, unless there are other material considerations to take into account. This will be relevant for any planning applications that are being considered from 16 September 2019.

How Can I be Kept Informed?

You can opt-in to receiving future mailings from us in relation to the housing trajectory and five year housing land supply by logging in to the Cambridge and/or South Cambridgeshire consultation databases and choosing the ‘areas of interest’ that you would like future mailings about. When you log in, you will find the list of ‘areas of interest’ under ‘My Details’.

Housing Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test (HDT) was introduced in 2018 and national planning policy and guidance sets out the consequences of different results of the HDT.

Housing Delivery Test Measurement Results and Implications for decision making in Greater Cambridge (February 2019)

There are no consequences from the HDT results for Cambridge, however for South Cambridgeshire a HDT Action Plan needed to be prepared.

Housing Delivery Test Action Plan for South Cambridgeshire (September 2019), including Statement of Common Ground with Cambridge City Council

The HDT Action Plan for South Cambridgeshire sets out the:

• functional relationship between Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, consistent with the joint housing trajectory and joint five year housing land supply approach confirmed in the adopted Local Plans, reflecting the joint development strategy across Greater Cambridge;
• existing joint agreements between the two Councils that are relevant to the HDT; and
• Councils’ case for the HDT to be considered jointly.

The HDT Action Plan includes as Appendix B a Statement of Common Ground between the two Councils that formalises their agreement that they should be considered jointly for the purposes of the HDT.

Annual Monitoring Reports

South Cambridgeshire Authority Monitoring Report 2017-2018 (January 2019) – the Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply section of this Authority Monitoring Report has been superseded by the publication of the Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply: Main Document and Annex (September 2019)

We produce an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR, or Authority Monitoring Report) every year that looks back at the previous monitoring year from 1 April to 31 March. It contains information on the performance of the individual planning policies set out in the adopted Local Plan, but also provides a general portrait of the social, economic and environmental conditions in the district. The AMR also assesses the Council's progress in producing its Local Plan and Area Action Plans against the timetable set out in the Local Development Scheme.

The AMR for 2018-2019 will cover the whole of Greater Cambridge and will be published in late 2019 / early 2020.