Row Over Housing Land Viability Test

A row has broken out over guidance designed to make councils take into account the economic viability of land they allocate for new homes. The planning guidance, published by the Local Housing Delivery Steering Group, advises councils how to test the viability of sites, as required in the government’s National Planning Policy Framework. This is supposed to be in order to ensure that it is actually possible to develop on the land allocated for housing in councils’ local plans. However, a row has broken out over how the guidance assesses the likely price at which land-owners will sell sites to developers. The guidance says this should be calculated on the basis of what it is worth under its existing use plus a small premium. But opponents say that land is unlikely to come forward for development unless landowners can sell it at the market value it commands as a housing site. Download a copy of the guidance from the Local Government Association website.