Calderdale Local Plan: Blueprint for what types of new homes should be built across Calderdale approved including how many affordable ones
Senior Calderdale councillors have recommended colleagues adopt new planning documents which will shape the type of homes, including how many affordable ones, in the borough.
Deputy leader of the council, Coun Scott Patient, said the council had just received some national recognition for the way it carried out consultation processes, including the ones used for these documents where submissions resulted in some changes.
Last year Calderdale Council approved its Local Plan, identifying where thousands of new homes might be built in the borough into the 2030s.
Council cabinet members have since been considering and recommending the full council approves a series of supplementary planning documents (SPDs) to add detail.
This week they gave their support to the latest two - one bringing design requirements and standards developers will be expected to meet when planning applications are considered, and another on how to achieve needed numbers of affordable homes.
Coun Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) said the aim of the first document was to guide developers produce what the council wanted to see – “healthy, attractive environments”.
Affordable homes include a variety of different types, ranging from homes for rent, homes that provide a route to home ownership, such as shared ownership, and homes offered for sale at a discounted price of at least 20 per cent below market value, according to the SPD.
The “place” guide says: “This design guide should be read by anyone proposing development in Calderdale.
“This includes all types and scales of development from house extensions to large residential or commercial development sites and public realm improvements.
“This design guide will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications, which means that its contents must be considered as part of the decision making process.”
According to the Local Plan, over its life – 2018-19 to 2032-33 – there is a need for 3,140 affordable homes over that period.
This equates to 224 affordable homes being built each year – presumably more given the plan was only approved in 2023.
Among proposals are the number of affordable homes required in different areas of Calderdale with bigger proportions in places zoned as “hotter”, where affordable homes are in shorter supply.