Planning changes lead to Test Valley Local Plan rethink

The council said new requirements have undermined its progress on the next Local Plan, which guides housing and infrastructure decisions across the borough.

Cllr Phil North, leader of Test Valley Borough Council, said: "Producing a Local Plan always includes very difficult decisions, balancing the need for new homes, including new affordable homes, with the impact those decisions will have on existing residents’ lives and local infrastructure.

"In early 2024, we had identified several sites across the borough that we were recommending for development, building on our good record of delivering new housing in a plan-led way.

"However, this government’s 78% increase in our housing figure imposed mid-way through the process has led to at least a two-year delay and a situation where developers are putting in speculative applications, which are much more likely to be approved because we don’t have a five-year housing land supply.

"The government is directly responsible for creating this situation.

"They say they believe in a plan-led system, but their actions don’t match their words."

Under recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, Test Valley’s housing requirement has risen by 78 per cent.

The council said this change, introduced without transitional arrangements, has dropped its housing land supply to 2.5 years—well below the five-year minimum.

Officials said the shortfall has prompted increasing speculative planning applications and forced the council to identify additional development sites before moving forward with its plan.

Other complications have arisen during public consultation on the draft plan, with some landowners withdrawing parts of the sites in Weyhill, Stockbridge and Appleshaw.

Adding to the challenge, powers over long-term housing planning will transfer to a new mayor for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as part of wider local government reforms.

Cllr Phil Bundy, cabinet member for planning, said: "The government states that it is committed to ‘plan-led’ development, yet it has created a situation across the country that indicates the very opposite is true.

"This has resulted in homes being proposed in the wrong places at the wrong time, many in unsustainable locations.

"This is not about local failure—it is the direct result of national policy decisions that have made the system harder to manage and less certain for communities.

"We have made clear to government that these changes make it incredibly difficult to run a transparent process which is unacceptable."