You may have read in last week’s PAS bulletin of the publication of the ‘What Homes Where’ excel toolkit (and associated documents) by the Local Housing Requirement Assessment Working Group (these can be viewed at www.howmanyhomes.org). In addition you may also be aware that DCLG produced a new set of household formation projections last week. These projections, together with the population projections, form the starting point for ‘objectively assessing housing need’ in relation to local plan development. Compared with the previous, 2008-based projections the annual household growth rate for England is projected to fall from 245,000 to 221,000. However, at the local authority level there are, in some cases, substantial differences – in some areas likely household growth rates have gone up by 20% or more whilst others have gone down. If you are trying to get a better understanding of the statistics and what they mean for your local authority area then Neil McDonald, who developed the toolkit, and I (I currently chair the Working Group) are able to run seminars to help. Unfortunately there would be a cost to cover our time but If you would like to know more then please feel free to email either myself at nickylinihan@virginmedia.com or Neil at neilkmcdonald@googlemail.com
