This document is the first Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) for North Northamptonshire. The SHLAA considers the potential supply of housing for a range of settlements in North Northamptonshire over a 20 year period from a base date of April 2008. The SHLAA is a technical study of housing potential, working on the best available information at a point in time; this means it is not necessarily fully inclusive.

Between April 2008 and the publication of the final report, it is likely that some

circumstances will have changed such as, for instance, resolutions to grant planning permission on particular sites. The SHLAA will be updated annually to ensure that the assumptions within it and the estimates of supply are as up to date as possible.

The SHLAA forms part of the LDF evidence base, along with a range of other technical studies. It does not in any way prejudice decisions to be taken by the Joint Planning Committee or by individual district/borough planning authorities, in relation to preferred directions of growth, site identification in Development Plan Documents (DPDs) or the determination of planning applications.

The planning authorities will use the SHLAA as a starting point for their consideration of which sites to bring forward as allocations in the site specific DPDs. Considerable further work will be required in order to ensure that the identification of sites in such Plans is based on sound and up to date information.

Posted : 01/12/2008