The local plan update: a landscape to thrive

Torbay Local Plan Update: A Landscape to Thrive. August 2023 Update.

Following the most recent Local Plan consultation in October 2022, significant changes to national planning policy have been announced. These include Ministerial Statements and the Draft National Planning Policy Framework (December 2022), progress on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill though Parliament, and the publication of the Government’s Long Term Plan for Housing (July 2023). We are currently reviewing the implications of these for the Torbay Local Plan, and assessing whether the findings of the review carried out in 2020 are still applicable and correct.

On this basis, we will not be publishing the next stage of the Local Plan Update before this has been given further consideration and emerging government policy has been formalised. However, we are continuing with preparatory work for a review/update, including further evidence base work and assessments.

Torbay Local Plan Review and Update

We carried out two “Regulation 18” consultations in 2022 on updating the Torbay Local Plan 2012-30.

They were:

Local Plan Housing Update Growth Options Consultation (January 2022).
Local Plan Housing Site Options Consultation (October 2022)

These are available below under “Background Papers”.

Thank you to everyone who made comments on these consultations. These will be taken into account in considering the next stages of the Plan. Following changes to government policy (see above ) it has been decided to reassess the current Local Plan 2012-30, and the review that we carried out in 2020, in the light of these changes.

Evidence Documents

The Local Plan will be supported by evidence about key issues. Two important studies that have been carried out are the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment (HENA) and the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA). The latest versions of these documents are attached below, but please note that they are likely to evolve over time as new sites and data become available. The HENA and the HELAA are not policy documents, but part of the evidence that will help shape policy making.

Housing and Economic Needs Assessment (HENA)

This HENA looks at the housing market in Torbay and calculates how many affordable homes need to be provided, as well as the size, type and tenure of homes that we need.

Read the Housing and Economic Needs Assessment May 2022.

Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA)

Need is different from capacity to meet that need. The next step has been to identify land that could potentially be used to meet Torbay’s housing need. This process, known as a Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA), looks at whether sites would be suitable to build homes on. The HELAA has included a ‘Call for Sites’ in which we have asked local people, land owners and agents to notify us of sites which may have development potential. This assessment was carried out in 2021 and will be refreshed as part of the Local Plan process.

Read the Torbay Housing and Economic Land Availability.

Previous Cabinet Report (July 2022)

Read the Cabinet and background information to the October 2022 Housing Site Options Consultation.

Further information – Local Plan Update

The stages of the Local Plan Update are set out below. However, these are indicative and may change, for example as a result of consultation responses.