Chichester District Council has moved another step further in the Local Plan Review process and published a list of sites across the Local Plan area that may have the potential to accommodate housing and employment.
The HELAA 2020 (Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment) is a technical assessment which is updated on a regular basis and will be used as key evidence as part of the Local Plan Review. The document is part of the initial stages when looking at potential sites for development.
The aim is to identify a future supply of land which is suitable, available and achievable for housing and economic development (such as employment, retail and leisure) over the plan period up to 2037.
Landowners are invited to put forward details of areas of land that they think could be developed for housing or employment. Once assessed and published in the HELAA, the various sites will be considered further so that the most sustainable sites are taken forward into the Local Plan Review.
“We want to reassure people that while a site may be included in the HELAA, it doesn’t mean it will be developed,” says Councillor Susan Taylor, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning at Chichester District Council. “This is a document which we as a council have to produce and which is regularly updated and then made available to the public. The HELAA helps us to ensure that both housing and employment is provided in the most appropriate locations and is one of many important technical documents that support and inform the preparation of the Local Plan Review.
“I would like to stress that the HELAA does not allocate sites and does not mean that planning permission for any site will be granted. It is there to ensure that only the most sustainable sites are taken forward for allocation in the Local Plan Review.
“Work on the Local Plan Review has been carrying on despite the current pandemic, and we continue to prepare all the relevant evidence needed for the review.”
The HELAA can be viewed at: https://www.chichester.gov.uk/article/29759/Housing-and-Economic-Land-Availability-Assessment
