Hart District Council has announced a massive reduction in the number of new homes to be built across the district over the next 16 years.
The Council has been working hard to reduce housing numbers by identifying more sites to be delivered on brownfield land and by helping neighboring authorities meet their housing need within their own area.
With this good news, the Council will be adjusting the evidence base needed for the draft Local Plan to reflect the new housing figures, and will be bringing forward the new plan early in the New Year ready to go out to consultation with the public.
Stephen Parker, Leader of Hart District Council, said “This is good news for the district and for local residents. It is important to make sure we do not produce a Local Plan which delivers more homes than the district needs and ensure that we produce a Plan that is right for Hart residents.”
Since consultation on a Refined Housing Options document in February this year, when it was thought that Hart might have to find land to build up to 5,000 new homes, the Council has been working hard to find ways to reduce this number. Rushmoor Borough Council was challenged to see if it could accommodate extra homes on the sites that it had identified. Alongside this, work on identifying future housing need, which was supported by Hart District Council, has also reduced the overall number of homes that Rushmoor will need to plan for.
As a result, Rushmoor recently confirmed that it will look to meet its own housing needs and does not expect Hart to accommodate any shortfall, which had previously been in the region of 1,500 homes. Surrey Heath Council has also confirmed that it will look to meet its needs.
