Intelligence/

The Greater London Authority has issued a call for sites for inclusion in their Housing Capacity and Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (HC/SHLAA).  This assessment will provide the basis for new housing targets in a revised London Plan. 

The purpose of SHLAAs is to:

• identify sites with potential for housing;
• assess their housing potential; and
• assess when they are likely to be developed.

Core outputs of SHLAAs include a list of sites, cross-referenced to maps showing site locations and boundaries, an assessment of the deliverability of each site to determine when it is realistically expected to be developed, an indication of the potential quality of the housing that could be delivered on each site, constraints to the delivery of the sites, and recommendations on how and when constraints could be overcome. 

While they are used to inform plan-making, SHLAAs do not determine whether the sites included should ultimately be allocated for housing development. 

Information about sites must be received by the GLA by 5 December 2008.   More details are provided in a GLA newsletter, which is available here. 

Guidance from Communities and Local Government explaining how assessments of land availability for housing must be carried out as outlined in Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) can be found here.