Housing sites being assessed

Land which could be available for housing in Wealden will be identified in a report to be published in March next year.

District councillors will be given information relating to their own wards a month earlier.

A report to Wealden's cabinet local development framework sub-committee, which meets today, says it is anticipated the final document will be scrutinised closely by interested parties.

Potential housing sites suggested by landowners and developers, or arising from the council's own technical studies, are currently being assessed by council officers and an advisory group which includes representatives from the house building and development industry and local environmental groups as well as the Environment Agency and East Sussex County Council.

'The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment does not identify which sites may be allocated through the Local development Framework as this will ultimately be a matter for the council to decide when it publishes its LDF plan documents,' says the report to today's sub-committee.

'It is however an important part of the evidence base that we shall need to use to demonstrate that our proposed planning policies are deliverable and achievable.

'In essence the SHLAA identifies which land may potentially be available for the delivery of housing if the council should decide to choose it.'

(Added to site Friday, October 23rd, 2009)