Policy information sourced from the Hounslow Local Plan Part 1

SC1 - HOUSING GROWTH

Our approach

We will seek to maximise the supply of housing in the borough to meet housing need in a manner that is consistent with sustainable development principles and is built at a rate that will exceed the London Plan annualised completion targets to achieve at least 12,330 new homes between 2015 and 2030. We will seek new opportunities to augment this growth where new infrastructure investment creates opportunities for levels of growth hitherto found to be unsustainable.

We will achieve this by

  • Allocating sites of a range of different sizes and locations to ensure there is a resilient and flexible stock of opportunities for housing development that offers a choice of high quality homes;
  • Supporting proposals for new development and conversions on other sites, including small sites, in the context of the presumption in favour of sustainable development;
  • Encouraging the effective use of land by reusing previously developed land provided that it is not of high environmental value or in a use that is protected otherwise in the Local Plan;
  • Investigating, collaborating and promoting new opportunities to augment housing delivery targets with sustainable development, including through the preparation of two partial plan reviews for the Great West Corridor and the west of the borough;
  • Publishing information on the rate of housing completions and the trajectory of deliverable and developable housing supply against an annual monitoring target of 822 additional homes per year. In doing so we will regularly review the need for changes to the site allocations and policies impacting on housing supply as part of a housing implementation strategy;
  • Recognising that an important contribution to housing supply will come from small infill sites throughout the borough, and requiring the design of these to respond to and reflect local context and character. In doing so we will monitor and manage the cumulative impact of development;
  • Maintaining a presumption against the development of self-contained residential units within the curtilage of existing dwellings where the proposal would be in conflict with other policies in this plan;
  • Working with developers to unlock blockages to development and seek to ensure necessary infrastructure is in place in a timely manner; and
  • Re-considering development proposals in the context of the Local Plan where applications to renew unimplemented planning permissions come forward, and reviewing the need to review Local Plan site allocations in the later phases of the plan period in order to maintain a rolling supply of deliverable housing sites and infrastructure.

We will expect development proposals to

  • Have regard to the design standards of the development plan and have regard to related supplementary planning documents;
  • Be completed in balance with existing and planned infrastructure, and contribute to the provision of further infrastructure to achieve sustainable development and sustainable mixed communities;
  • Include clear information on the anticipated rate of completion of the proposed development, and to construct housing in the phasing anticipated; and
  • Provide a clear explanation of why development could not proceed in the case of applications to renew unimplemented planning permissions, and set out a programme of proposed works.

For more information please see the Hounslow Local Plan Part 1