It is important to track progress with the implementation of planning policies to understand if the policy outcomes are being achieved. Below you can find some of the more recent monitoring data.
Housing completions
In 2022 to 2023, there were 900 completions, continuing the disappointing level of delivery following the COVID pandemic with higher costs of building materials and higher interest rates. Below you can see how these are split by current local plan area:
| Net housing completions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Plan Area | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Bournemouth | 796 | 468 | 209 | 288 | 386 |
| Christchurch | 273 | 72 | 57 | 168 | 100 |
| Poole | 634 | 292 | 430 | 317 | 414 |
| Total | 1,703 | 832 | 696 | 773 | 900 |
Supply of new homes
The Government annually publishes the housing delivery test that sets out how we compare against housing targets over the previous 3 years. The requirements are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The 2022 housing delivery test results show that the housing completions in:
- Bournemouth are 51% of the target
- Christchurch are 90% of the target
- Poole are 80% of the target
Combined this equates to 73% – as this is under the 75% threshold, the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies and a 20% buffer is added to the housing land supply position.
Housing land supply
As our draft local plan is at an advanced stage (examination) we are required to maintain a four year supply of housing sites. The 1 April 2024 marks the fifth anniversary of when we came into existence. As such, government planning guidance requires publication of a single housing land supply calculation, rather than a separate housing supply for each predecessor authority.
At 1 April 2024 we had a housing land supply of 1.6 years against a 4 year housing requirement that includes a 20% buffer (a shortfall of 8,078 homes). For the purposes of para 11 of the NPPF, it is therefore appropriate to regard relevant housing policies as out of date as we are unable to demonstrate a four-year supply of homes.
Infrastructure funding statement
Each year we will produce an Infrastructure Funding Statement to demonstrate how what planning obligations (i.e. Section 106 Agreements) and Community Infrastructure Levy we have secured from developers and how we have spent it on infrastructure. This includes the funds available to local communities through the CIL Neighbourhood portion and how it is being spent. We have reported on the collection and spend since BCP Council formed in 2019, in the Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-23.