Every year the local planning authority needs to publish a register of the land that owners are looking to put forward for development. This is a statutory requirement and while this leads to a lot of concern, gives the broadest range of options to select for the Allocations plan which is currently underway at EHDC.
The sites are assessed by the planning team and this is a very ‘high level’ sift. An excluded site is one which has a major obstacle to planning and there is no point in putting it into the register of available land. Possible reasons might include if it is a SINC, suffers from flooding etc. An included site is one which can not be ruled out immediately but needs to still go through the planning process and tests for sustainability. Contrary to the impression developers might give, and ‘Included site’ has no approval by EHDC and no preferred status by EHDC. Gap status, Landscape issues, Highways access and all of the key reasons that planning applications are measured against are still to be tested on the land.
Included Sites:
Excluded Sites:
There is nothing to stop a land owner from applying for permission to build on an Excluded site.
The next step is to use the SHLAA sites and carry out sustainability assessments to identify the land that should be taken forward and allocated to Horndean’s housing need. The Land East Of Horndean area is clearly the community preference, and this is also a good fit with the most sustainable options for the sites available.
Click on this link for the SHLAA Site Assessment Report 2014
horndeanmatters 
Hello Guy,
Just wondered if you can clarify something for me please?
My parents live on Drift Road directly opposite the large field at Charity Farm which borders Drift Road and White Dirt Lane. They currently have their house up for sale and have been told today that this land is earmarked for development in the near future? I’ve been onto EHDC website and looked at all land with planning posdibities but this is not included on either the included or excluded sites. As they have a potential buyer I would like to be able to give them some sort of info on this. My parents are in their 80’s and a bit concerned this may thwart the sale of their house. Apparently the landowner is elderly and as his son has no interest in the farm, has offered the land for potential devopment?
Thanks
Jacki
Hi Jacki, giving advice related to the sale of a property is risky business so I provide the following in good faith! The current 2014 SHLAA sites are on the main article you have commented on. HD 046 is the closest to the area I think you are referring to. If you can email me your parents postcode to my east hants address I will happily check with more detail so i am clear on the location. The local searches the solicitors usually pick up look for possible development within a number of radii, 100m, 250m, 500m, 1000m, 2000m etc. it is very likely it is picking up HD 046. There are current applications on Drift Road and if you speak to Cllr Sara Schillemore she should be able to let you know more about them and when they are likely to go to planning committee. A SHLAA site that is ‘included’ has no greater likelihood of getting planning permission than a piece of land that has not been put forward, albeit the land owner clearly has the intent. land owners can also submit planning applications without going through the shlaa site process. I hope this helps? guy.
Guy, if a SHLAA site has had a planning application refused, will it or can it be removed from the list?
Thanks
Sue
Hi Sue. The straight answer is no. The SHLAA register is only a map of land the land owners are happy to put forward for development. It is a document EHDC are required to maintain every year. The allocations plan which has just been published is the key document as it shows the only sites we want to take forward. This, once approved, effectively makes development on ANY of the other shlaa sites most unlikely as long as the allocated site is built out. I hope that gives a full answer? Best wishes, guy.
Thanks Guy, I understand in theory it is just a “shopping list”, but as mentioned by a Clanfield parish councillor last Monday many of the SHLAA sites that had come forward in her experience had subsequently been built on. If it is a list required to be kept by EHDC once the allocations plan is approved does the SHLAA list remain as is or will it contiinue to be added to?
Can you also tell me who sets the criteria for adding sites to the SHLAA and why can one site be unacceptable in one year but acceptable in another?
Looking forward to your reply.
Sue
Hi Sue. I have a OCD and try to respond to messages as quickly as I can, but apologies for not coming back immediately, I wanted to check with East Hants on the development of SHLAA sites at Clanfield as I was not sure I agreed with the speaker who said they had extensively been built on. SHLAA sites are land outside of the Settlement Policy Boundary that are considered for development. they make a permanent and significant change to the community by increasing the settlement area so are a big deal. The only one I can think of is Green Lane which was an allocated SHLAA site in the local plan. Checking with the planning team at EHDC they agree and applications outside of the Settlement Policy Boundary came along and were rejected. I would not agree that SHLAA sites that had come forward had been built on. For Clanfield as the Green Lane site was allocated this was the justification not to build elsewhere outside of the settlement policy boundary. (SHLAA sites only apply outside of this area)
The Council is required under law to maintain a register of sites land owners are happy to have developed. Reasons why they might not be accepted are significant reasons like it floods, it is a SINC, it is not accessible etc. This is a very ‘high level’ sift to exclude sites where development is inconceivable, but does not infer permission would be granted, or could be. When developers at consultations point to a SHLAA map and say the local authority have ‘included it’ this means nothing but sounds very important and is very misleading. There will be SHLAA maps in 2015, 2016 etc but these will have limited importance while the housing identified in the allocation plan is delivered. If the sites in the allocation plan were to fall through – say for example there was a sink hole, or the bat problem was significantly bigger then the up to date SHLAA list would be needed to consider the plan B options.
I have added a file to the article “2014 SHLAA sites published” this comment is made on which attaches the EHDC SHLAA site report and gives some more data on this.
I hope this helps! Guy.