Five Year Housing Land Position

This page presents the following information:

• Five year housing land supply position as at 31 March 2022
• Previous five year land supply positions

Five year housing land supply position as at 31 March 2022

In accordance with the Revised National Planning Policy Framework, July 2021 (NPPF), Local Planning Authorities are required to significantly boost the supply of housing through the identification of a deliverable five year housing land supply (1 April 2022 – 31 March 2027).

The Council should identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide a minimum of five years’ worth of housing land. The purpose of the five year housing land supply is to provide an indication of whether there are sufficient sites available over the next five years for new residential development.

Trafford’s five year housing land supply is calculated against LHN using the standard method set out in national planning guidance. This is because the housing requirement set out in the Core Strategy (adopted January 2012) is more than five years old.

The LHN is calculated by taking national household growth projections (the latest used as advised by national government are from 2014) and applying an adjustment to take in to account affordability for Trafford. The latest median workplace-based affordability ratios (House price to workplace-based earnings ratio dataset) were published in March 2022. The number derived from this is then capped, which is determined by the current status of the Development Plan (i.e. more than five years old for Trafford).

Following this methodology the annual housing target for Trafford is 1,407 units per year.

To improve the prospect of achieving the annual target for housing completions, there should be a buffer on the identified supply of specific deliverable sites to provide flexibility in which sites could come forward. The buffer for Trafford is currently 20% because there has been under delivery of housing over the previous three years as set out in the Housing Delivery Test 2021 Measurement. This means that the Council has to identify enough sites to meet the five year requirement plus an additional 20%.

As at 31 March 2022 there were 6,328 units considered deliverable over the five year period 2022/2023 to 2026/2027, which is equivalent to 1,266 units per year.

Previous five year land supply positions

For information, this table sets out the five year land supply position as at 31March each year for Trafford since 2012.

HGP: Housing Growth Point requirement
NPPF: National Planning Policy Framework
LHN: Local Housing Need