Test Valley Borough Council has been committed to preparing its next Local Plan, having published draft versions for consultation in 2022, 2024 and 2025. However, many factors outside of the Council’s control, including a multitude of government changes, are cumulatively affecting the Council’s ability to progress the Local Plan as envisaged.
In December 2024, the Government announced a series of Planning Reforms. These reforms focused on accelerating house building and delivering 1.5 million homes nationally during the course of this parliament. A central component of this was the Government setting mandatory housing targets, which came into effect immediately. This led to Test Valley’s housing need increasing by 78% and losing its five year housing land supply position. This has made it incredibly hard to refuse planning permission for speculative, unallocated sites with our communities at the brunt end.
This meant that the Council could no longer progress the Local Plan as intended, and the difficult decision was taken to address this significant increase in housing need through identifying additional site allocations as part of the Revised Regulation 18 Draft Local Plan. Public consultation highlighted a number of concerns from our communities including the ability of infrastructure to cope with the level of proposed development and the impact on the environment. The Council also shared similar concerns with Government at the time when it consulted on the planning reforms that were brought into place.
During the consultation the Council received notification from the landowners of a significant proportion of the proposed Weyhill Expansion, as well as the proposed site at Appleshaw (Land south of Eastville) and part of the proposed site at Stockbridge (Land at Danebury School) that they were no longer available for development as proposed. This rare situation has led to the Council requiring further time to consider how to address the resulting implications. To ensure our communities have sufficient opportunity to review and comment on any new sites, another round of public consultation would be required. Taking into account the time required to address this, it would not have been possible to produce and submit a sound local plan before the Government’s deadline of the end of 2026.
The Council is aware of and shares the communities’ concerns of the continuing significant risk of speculative planning applications coming forward due to the loss of its 5-year housing land supply. The position the Government has placed the Council in means the Local Plan is being overtaken by events, with planning applications coming forward on sites ahead of them becoming allocated through an adopted Local Plan. Permitting sites in this way does not align with the principles of a plan-led system. The Council has previously highlighted these concerns to Government
Not only are Councils required to have five years’ worth of housing land supply they also need to have delivered a sufficient number of homes over a previous three-year period, which is now likely to be calculated against the new much higher housing target. This is known as the Housing Delivery Test. Not meeting this test has the same impact as not having a housing land supply. Councils are more susceptible to speculative unplanned development. The intention of the Local Plan to provide certainty and security in influencing where development should occur has again been weakened.
The Government is also bringing forward Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation, as well as a new Local Plan making system. This has created uncertainty around the scope, timing and geography of the Local Plan, given that Test Valley will cease to exist in April 2028 and will be replaced by Mid-Hampshire and South-West Hampshire authorities. Taking forward a Local Plan as previously envisaged risks not aligning with the priorities of the future Hampshire and Solent Combined Authority and the Mid-Hampshire and South-West Hampshire authorities, which could result in abortive work and inefficient use of public resources.
The cumulative impact of constant and overlapping national changes and a lack of clear guidance, alongside local challenges of sites being withdrawn have created uncertainty and risks in taking forward the Local Plan. The benefits a Local Plan provides for our communities, such as reducing risk of speculative planning applications, have been significantly weakened due to the Government’s approach to accelerating housing delivery. As a result, the Council is now considering preparing a Local Plan under the new plan making system, that looks ahead and aligns more with local government reorganisation and the creation of the new unitary authorities in the future. Therefore, Full Council will meet on 22nd July to consider not submitting its Local Plan in December 2026 and instead progressing a Local Plan under the new plan making system.
To view the Full Council report setting out this approach in detail, and some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) please use this link to the Council’s website
A press release has been prepared and can be viewed here
A Test Valley Association Parish and Town Councils Meeting is being held on 20th July at King’s Somborne Village Hall which includes the opportunity to discuss the next steps for the local plan.
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