St Albans City and District Council has now begun work on its Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), which will form a key part of the evidence base for the Local Development Framework. The SHLAA will help the Council to make important decisions over the delivery of sufficient land for housing to meet the District's future needs. In particular, it will inform the preparation of the Council's Core Strategy and Site Allocations Development Plan Documents (DPDs).

The Council recently undertook consultation on its proposed methodology for the Assessment. The draft methodology statement was prepared in line with Central Government's good practice guidance, together with the recent advice on SHLAAs published by the Planning Advisory Service. The Council also invited stakeholders to submit details of any sites (or broad locations) within the St Albans District with potential for housing development up to 2026.

We received a positive response, with 23 people/organisations making comments on the draft methodology. Officers have prepared a schedule of all comments received, together with the Council's response. This schedule will be included as an appendix to the final SHLAA document and is available to read below. Where appropriate, amendments have been made to the SHLAA methodology statement in light of comments received and a final version can also be found below.

The Council is now considering all submitted sites or broad locations and those sites identified through other means (the 'long list' includes over 500 sites in total), in order to assess their suitability, availability and achievability for housing development. Full details of the assessment process can be found in the methodology statement.

It is important to note that the primary role of the SHLAA is to identify sites with housing potential and to assess when they are likely to be developed. The SHLAA itself will not, however, determine whether a site should be allocated for housing development. This will be a task for the Council during preparation of its Development Plan Documents (for the latest timetable for DPD production, please refer to the 'Local Development Scheme 2007-2010' available to read on the Council's website).

If you have any questions regarding the SHLAA or the procedures for putting forward possible sites for housing development, please do not hesitate to contact the Planning Policy team on 01727 866100 Ext 2736 or by email: planningpolicy@stalbans.gov.uk

Draft Methodology Statement

Schedule of Comments on Draft Methodology Statement

Final Methodology Statement