Available EHDC Powers: Local Plan Delivery Phasing

🏡 What Is “Delivery Phasing” in the Local Plan?

Imagine the Council has a map showing which pieces of land are meant to be used for new housing over the next 15 years. If they opened all of those areas at once, developers could just pick the easiest or cheapest ones, ignore the rest, and leave the local infrastructure (roads, schools, health services) struggling to catch up.

Delivery phasing is a rule the Council can adopt that says:

“You can’t build wherever you like, whenever you like. You can only build on this land now, and you have to wait to build on that land later — and only after certain conditions are met.”

This ensures:

  • The first sites get delivered first,
  • Infrastructure like roads and schools is built in sync with housing,
  • Developers don’t get to hoard land or skip the queue, and
  • The Local Plan stays in control, not overridden by developers.

🧭 What Would the Policy Do?

The policy I’ve proposed does three key things:

1. It breaks housing into phases

The Council divides the next 15 years into 3 time periods:

  • Phase 1 (Years 1–5): sites expected to be built early,
  • Phase 2 (Years 6–10): sites only allowed after the first ones are mostly finished,
  • Phase 3 (Years 11–15): sites reserved for the long term.

2. It ties later phases to progress and infrastructure

Later sites can’t go ahead until:

  • Enough homes have already been built in earlier phases (e.g. 75% complete), and
  • Big infrastructure like roads or a school is actually built or fully paid for.

This prevents leapfrogging, where developers skip tough sites and leave others half-done.

3. It sets deadlines

Every site has a time by which developers must apply for planning permission, and a time by which they must start building. If they don’t — the Council may reallocate the land to someone else in future plan reviews.

🎯 Why Does It Matter?

Without this kind of rule, developers can:

  • Get planning permission but wait years to build (called land banking),
  • Avoid sites with more responsibilities (like building schools or affordable housing),
  • Push for new sites outside the Local Plan (“speculative development”), claiming there’s a shortage — even though they’re sitting on land they haven’t built on.

That kind of behaviour distorts the housing system, leads to:

  • Poorly timed infrastructure,
  • Weaker communities, and
  • More pressure on the countryside.

Phasing fixes this by saying:

“We’ve got a plan. Stick to it. Build in order. And if you don’t — you don’t get to jump ahead or ask for more land.”

🧾 Example

Let’s say there’s an area in South Medstead where the Council wants 120 homes built in the next 5 years. The developer:

  • Has until Year 2 to submit their application,
  • Must start building within 18 months,
  • Has to deliver the road upgrades and local park before they reach 50% of the homes.

Only after that happens, can other nearby land (e.g. the Beechlands site) be opened up — and only if there’s a new school site secured too.

✅ Final Thought

This policy gives EHDC control over when, where, and how development happens. It ensures developers:

  • Don’t delay what they promised,
  • Don’t abandon difficult sites,
  • Don’t overload roads, schools, or health services, and
  • Don’t use housing targets as an excuse to take more land than they’re willing to build on.