Two North East councils fail Housing Delivery Test
Both North Tyneside and South Tyneside’s local authorities must now treat residential applications with a presumption in favour of approval, make an action plan to stimulate delivery and improve their supply of deliverable sites.
Although close enough to hitting delivery targets to avoid those swingeing measures, Newcastle must also provide an action plan for improving housing delivery.
The news comes from the Housing Delivery Test results, published by government on Monday. HDT measures the number of homes needed compared to those that were built, with the latest rendition looking at the years between 2022 and 2025.
Those councils falling below 95% on delivery are instructed to take measures on a sliding scale of severity.
If fewer than 95% of the required homes are delivered, the local authority must put together an action plan, assessing the causes and identifying actions to address the shortfall.
If a council is below 85%, a council must also build in a buffer of 20% to its identified specific deliverable sites.
Should a council come in below 75%, those measures are added to by the imposition of “presumption in favour” of approval on all housing applications that comply with an up-to-date development plan, are on unprotected sites, and where the downsides of development do not significantly outweigh the benefits.
Just three councils in the region failed to hit the required 95% mark.
South Tyneside has the most to do, registering just 505 completions against a target of 949, amounting to 53%. North Tyneside delivered 1,504 homes against a need figure of 2,306 (65%), while Newcastle’s figure was 87%, representing 2,831 homes delivered.
However, South Tyneside told Place North East that the local authority is on the right track. Cllr Steve Smith, lead member for housing, said: “The latest result largely reflects housing completions over previous years when South Tyneside did not have an up-to-date Local Plan in place.
“The recent adoption of the Local Plan marks a significant turning point and puts the borough in a much stronger position to guide and support future housing delivery.”
North Tyneside and Newcastle were also approached for comment.
The remaining councils in the North East passed HDT, meaning they met more than 96% of their housing need during the 2022-2025 timespan.
Some councils more than matched the housing need figure. Northumberland saw 4,530 homes delivered, 262% of the need figure, while Middlesbrough hit 174%, representing 1,335 homes delivered.
