Housing Delivery Test 2020

On 19 March the government published its latest Housing Delivery Test results. They don’t make for pleasant reading.

At the beginning of each year, MHCLG releases figures for how many homes each planning authority in England has managed to deliver for the previous year. Based on their performance against predetermined targets, certain consequences apply depending upon how far off the mark they were. Any authority with a score of less than 75% (ie. the total number of homes delivered divided by the target for that period) is subject to a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” as set out by the National Planning Policy Framework. A figure of less than 85% requires the authority to identify a “buffer” of land supply to make up the difference, and a score of less than 95% requires an action plan to be prepared.

To complicate matters, these thresholds change each year: the threshold for “presumption” has risen from 25% in 2018 to 45% in 2019 and now to 75% for 2020. Of course, these figures are for homes delivered rather than granted planning consent, placing the targets rather out of their control.

In 2018 all of the London Planning Authorities (including London Legacy Development Corporation, but not Old Oak Common, which is currently excluded from these targets) exceeded the threshold for presumption, with fourteen falling below the 95% figure.

However, for 2019 – with the “presumption” threshold raised to 45% – both City of London and Havering Council fell short, although better performance was seen by others, with only eight boroughs falling below the “buffer” target of 85%.

Fast forward to 2020, and eight boroughs scored below the 75% figure required to avoid a presumption in favour of sustainable development. Havering remains the worst performing, with delivery of only 36% of homes against its five-year target 3,414. But Kensington & Chelsea is following closely behind with a score of 49% – a massive drop from 137% just two years before.

Although an allowance has been made within the government’s targets for the ongoing pandemic – and its knock-on effect on the housing pipeline – within the five year period up to the end of 2020 London’s authorities delivered 115,736 of their 121,801 target. Therefore if London were an authority in its own right, it would be hitting the 95% target to avoid sanctions. But with over half those being delivered by just 10 boroughs, it’s clear that some parts of London need to pick up the pace.