5 Year Housing Land Supply Report 2025

Housing Requirement

  1. Within the Ribble Valley, the current adopted plan comprises:
    • Ribble Valley Core Strategy (2014)
    • Housing and Economic Development DPD (2019) (HED DPD)
    • Longridge Neighbourhood Plan 2028
  2. The Core Strategy was adopted in December 2014 and is the principal document relating to the supply of housing in the Ribble Valley, requiring 5600 net additional dwellings for the full plan period from 2008 – 2028 (an average of 280 per year). However, given changes that have been made to the NPPF and subsequent guidance in relation to determining housing need through the ‘Standard Method’, those targets are now superseded, with an annual requirement now set at 305 homes.
  3. In the reported monitoring period (1st April 2024 – 31st March 2025) 333 dwellings have been completed. This figure is above the forecasted completions figure as illustrated in the housing trajectory for the same period found on pages 11 and 12 of the ‘Housing Position Paper’, published in December 2018 as part of the Council’s evidence in relation to the examination of the HED DPD.
  4. The Council is preparing a Local Plan and policies map which will replace the Core Strategy and the HED DPD and identify sites for new development and provide policies for assessing planning applications. The timings for the new Local Plan are set out within the published Local Development Scheme (LDS)

Annual Requirement

  1. In line with the NPPF, because Ribble Valley’s strategic policies are more than five years old, the local housing need (LHN) figures should be used as the housing requirement in the calculation of the five-year supply until such time as an updated Local Plan is in place. The LHN has been calculated as 311 new homes per annum.

Buffer

  1. The 2023 Housing Delivery Test (December 2024) published by the Government covers the 3 financial years, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23. This, in conjunction with the Council’s own monitoring data confirms that Ribble Valley delivered 425% of the required number of homes over the three year period identified within the test. [Note: The published Housing Delivery Test states that that Ribble Valley delivered 475% of the required number of homes over the previous three years however the data for 2020-21 and 2022-23 does not reflect the Councils data. The correct figures for these years has been used to calculate the actual housing delivery percentage]. As such the Council has met the test of delivery and there is no evidence of housing ‘under-delivery’ in Ribble Valley. In the case of Ribble Valley, in accordance with para 78 of the NPPF, a buffer of 5% is applied to the housing need calculation.
  2. The table below shows the annualised requirement using the standard methodology with a 5% buffer.
    Table 1- Local Housing Need (LHN) with a 5% Buffer
    A Local Housing Need (LHN) 311
    B Five-year requirement (Ax5) 1,555
    C Plus 5% Buffer (5% of B) 77.75
    D Total 5 Year Requirement (B+C) 1632.75
    E Annualised Requirement (D ÷ 5) 326.55 (327)

  3. For comparison, the table below shows the annualised requirement based on the adopted Local Plan Figure of 280 dwellings per annum.

    Table 2- Local Plan Figure with a 5% Buffer
    A Planned Provision 2008-2028 5600
    B Annual Equivalent 280
    C Five-year requirement (Bx5) 1400
    D Plus 5% Buffer (5% of C) 70
    E Total 5 Year Requirement (C+D) 1470
    F Total 5 Year Requirement (C+D) 294

     

Housing Land Availability