Council snubs city council request to co-operate on delivering unmet housing need

Bristol’s wish for South Gloucestershire to co-operate and help deliver some of the city council’s housing dates back to 2017.

In a letter sent to South Gloucestershire in October 2023, Bristol's chief planner and head of planning, Simone Wilding, formally outlined the council's request to consider matters under the duty to cooperate.

Her letter read: "Our authorities have been cooperating for many years with the ambition of setting a strategic framework upon which our new local plans will be based.

"In November 2017 we published a joint strategy (West of England Joint Spatial Plan) which represented our agreement to address development needs across our areas.

"Whilst the Joint Spatial Plan was withdrawn, the process of cooperation continued into the preparation for a Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) for the West of England Combined Authority, a process which also saw continued liaison with North Somerset Council.

"Following the halting of the SDS process in May 2021 we have continued to cooperate on cross boundary matters including our approach to commissioning cross boundary evidence."

However, the most recent consultation on South Gloucestershire’s draft local plan – which was launched on 19 July – has revealed that the council is unlikely to be able assist Bristol with its unmet housing need.

According to South Gloucestershire, the consultation is aimed at ensuring the council continues to discharge the duty to cooperate under s.33 A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 on the cross-boundary strategic issue of Bristol's unmet housing need.

It is also intended to secure a 10% buffer to the council's housing targets to ensure it has a sufficient supply of homes, which would increase its annual housing delivery from 1,300 to around 1,900.

An officer's report that recommended the consultation be undertaken in accordance with Regulation 18 of the 2012 Town and Country Planning Regulations, said the council has struggled to find sufficient allocations to meet its housing need due to its green belt, the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and flooding concerns.

"If the Council adjusts its available housing supply this will present significant sustainability challenges and, would in all likelihood remove the scope for South Gloucestershire to assist with [Bristol’s] unmet need," the report said.

The report identified an additional 17 potential sites that would provide a further 1,751 homes, which would create an 8.86% buffer above the standard method minimum housing requirement.

It also set out additional green belt releases, citing the need to meet its own housing needs as an exceptional circumstance.

"However, even these additional sites do not provide a 10% buffer for the Council's own needs if measured across the whole housing supply, let alone additional supply to help meet Bristol's unmet needs," the report said.  

It added: "In so doing, it is mindful of the challenge of reaching the basic standard methodology numbers and the impact on local communities of going beyond that.

"Therefore, the Council's position is that it is not able to address BCC unmet needs, either wholly or in part."

Adam Carey