What lessons can be learnt from the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan “Saga”?

The Objectively Assessed Need: Progression through the Local Plan

The most controversial aspect of the Examination has been establishing both the quantum, and direction, of development. 

The Submitted Local Plan originally made provision for 12,000 dwellings, which fell short of the Objectively Assessed Need (OAN) identified in evidence, which totalled between 12,500 and 13,433 dwellings, before it increased again to 15,200 dwellings (or 800 dwellings per annum) in 2017.  

The Council has argued its OAN could not be met within its own Borough boundary or elsewhere in the wider Housing Market Area (HMA), which includes two London Boroughs (Barnet and Enfield) with significant needs of their own. However, officers prepared a ‘Preferred Strategy’ in January 2020 that would deliver 15,952 homes in order to meet the Inspector’s requirements. The Preferred Strategy included a combination of new assumptions about urban sites, increased capacity on sites already in the Submitted Plan and the allocation of new Green Belt sites. 

However, this was ultimately rejected by Members who instead opted for a strategy delivering approximately 14,000 homes. The new strategy resulted in the proposed removal of some existing sites from the Submitted Plan (based on updated Green Belt evidence), new urban and windfall assumptions, and the addition of some new Green Belt sites considered to cause lesser harm to the Green Belt. Most controversial of all was the removal of the proposed new settlement at Symonshyde of around 1,100 dwellings.   

In June 2021, the Inspector concluded that the housing requirement figures for a Plan period of between 2016-36 (amended due to the length of time the Plan has been at Examination and the now most recent 2018-based population projections) should be 15,200 dwellings (an average of 760 dwellings per annum). In reaching this conclusion, he pointed out that the Borough’s housing market is not self-contained (including direct reference to under supply in London) and that consistent lack of supply in the Borough as well as Hertfordshire has resulted in unacceptable levels of unaffordability. 

In August 2021, WHBC proposed a timetable to the Inspector that it said would result in the adoption of the Plan in spring / early summer 2022. This revised timetable is required to allow the Council time to undertake yet further work and decision-making on a revised strategy. Based upon the accuracy of the Council’s previously identified timelines, there must once again be the possibility of delays to these suggested timelines.    

Then, just last week, the Council cancelled several special meetings of Full Council scheduled to discuss the next steps to progress the Examination – to seek “urgent clarification” from the Government following the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference in which he questioned the need to deliver homes on green fields and, indeed, the south-east.

What conclusions can be drawn from the Welwyn Hatfield Examination?

There are many lessons to be learnt over the course of a five-year submission period, but the principal lessons can be summarised as:  

• Difficult decisions need to be taken based on evidence and advice.  
• The implications of falling short on needs without clarity on how they are to be met risks an elongated process of examination.  
• An elongated process of examination means evidence will need to be updated and there is a greater risk of changes to national policy and guidance. Notwithstanding the transitional arrangements put in place in the NPPF, the Plan is being considered against the content of the 2012 version – which has been reviewed two (and half) times during the course of the Examination!  
• Given the staunch refusal of the London Mayor to support a review of the London Green Belt and the adoption of the new London Plan, the pressure to accommodate more of London’s need has increased.  
• The Planning Inspectorate will be tolerant to a point, but will (understandably) become frustrated by inaction and inertia.  

Whilst the importance of the political side of planning is undeniable, it appears PINS are growing more frustrated with inaction. In his interim report in October 2020, the Inspector emphasised that it was imperative that an OAN was established without delay in order that the Examination could be brought to a conclusion. His frustrations with the Council were clearly apparent. The Council were failing to make the hard choices necessary for the Plan to move forward. His exasperation at this, and the glacial pace at which the Examination was progressing was palpable.

What is the importance of the Colney Heath decision?

There has been much discussion to the implications of the recent June 2021 Colney Heath appeal decision, which relates to an unallocated greenfield site at Roundhouse Farm, Land Off Bullens Green Lane, on the edge of Colney Heath on the boundary of Welwyn Hatfield Borough and St Albans District.  

In line with national policy, the Appeal Inspector gave “substantial weight” to the fact that new housing on an open field would cause considerable harm to the “openness” of the Green Belt, and to its “inappropriateness” in such a location.  

However, she considered that it was a visually contained site that was more associated with the village’s urban edge, rather than the wider open countryside. She concluded that there would be “no harm” to the Green Belt purpose in respect of safeguarding countryside from encroachment and went on to find that the development would be in a sustainable location for new development. Due to weak housing supply and acute housing need, the Appeal Inspector determined that “very substantial” weight to the delivery of market and affordable housing, as well as further “substantial” weight to the provision of 10 self-build dwellings, given that the outlook was “bleak” with housing shortfalls that were considerable and significant. 

The key reason that the appeal decision has been given such prominence is because there were none of the usual extenuating factors at play, which often accompany successful Green Belt appeal decisions. It was not previously developed land, it was not a draft allocation, nor did it propose enabling development. It remains to be seen whether this Colney Heath appeal decision concerning two neighbouring local authorities’ failure to deliver sufficient much needed homes is a turning point that will set a precedent for further successful appeal decisions on other Green Belt sites elsewhere in areas where housing needs are also acute.

Where do we go from here?

It is perhaps unsurprising that in September 2021, Welwyn Hatfield was identified as being the joint nineth worst local authority nationally for defending appeals for 5 or more homes between April 2018 – April 2021. Consequently, it is evident that there are significant consequences for failing to have an up to date adopted Local Plan or 5-year housing supply in place, as Welwyn Hatfield has been learning to its cost.  

Of course, we recognise the Local Plan process is not straightforward. This is not only by way of ensuring they are legally complaint and sound, but also the political connotations of decisions and the significant resource required to produce the documents and evidence base, underpinned by hard work and dedication of Officers. 

However, ultimately, the key lesson from the Welwyn Hatfield Examination has been the importance of local authorities making every reasonable effort to identify sufficient sites to meet their overall housing needs. If WHBC had actively addressed the evidence at each stage of the plan making process, the lengthy “saga” may well have been avoided.  

Yes, it is difficult when you are aiming at a moving target (i.e. housing need) and there is a recognised need to accommodate development on the Green Belt, but this prevarication and stagnation has happened during throughout a period when the Government has sought to ‘boost significantly the supply of housing’. All of this has happened before the recent unhelpful backtracking at the Tory Party Conference.  

It is a lesson that should be heeded by all. However, it is perhaps most important that the emerging South-West Hertfordshire Joint Spatial Plan fully grasps the nettle to ensure that a suitable framework is identified from the outset so that sufficient Green Belt sites can come forward in order that the overall housing need across the sub-region is capable of being fully met.