Comment

Representation ID: 23278

Received: 05/10/2021

Respondent: IM Land

Agent: RPS

Draft Black Country Plan 2020-2029 – Regulation 18 Consultation 2021

RPS has been commissioned to prepare a response to the Draft Black Country Plan (dBCP) consultation on behalf of IM Land, who are working with landowners and have interests in land located within the neighbouring district of South Staffordshire. Accordingly, this response therefore focuses on the strategic matter of the unmet housing need emanating from the Black Country and how this is being addressed through the Duty to Cooperate (DTC) process.

Current Extent of Unmet Need in the Black Country

Table 2 of the dBCP identifies a housing shortfall in the Black Country of 28,239 dwellings between 2020-

2039, to be exported through the DTC process. The evidence underpinning this figure is derived from analysis presented by ABCA in the Black Country Urban Capacity Review (BCUCR) 2020. Paragraph 2.1.41 of the BCUCR concludes that local housing need outstrips housing supply from 2020/21 onwards, with the gap widening until there is a total shortfall of 38,595 homes in 2038/39. This shortfall represents 51% of the total need for 76,076 homes over the period 2020-39.

It should be noted that the extent of the shortfall has worsened since the previous capacity was undertaken in 2019, which had established a shortfall of 29,288 dwellings by 2037/38 and which was predicted to emerge from 2027 onwards. The reduction in the shortfall from 38,595 to 28,239 is based on the identification of additional sources land in the dBCP beyond current commitments and other known sources, including a proportion (c.7,700) of dwellings to be delivered on land to be released from the Black Country Green Belt. However, even after the release of Green Belt land, the shortfall remains substantial.

Thus, the worsening and unresolved nature of the unmet need from the Black Country is material to determining what an appropriate contribution towards the shortfall from neighbouring authorities should be.

Duty to Cooperate response

Comments on the approach to addressing unmet need
RPS notes that a number of neighbouring authorities have made ‘offers’ to meet ‘wider than local’ housing needs of the HMA, totalling 8,000 dwellings, of which 4,000 dwellings would be accommodated in South

Staffordshire1. Nonetheless, it is not clear how much of this 4,000 would go towards the Black Country or other parts of the HMA, including Birmingham. RPS notes that the 4,000 figure was chosen by South Staffordshire as their preferred option as part of the Spatial Housing Strategy and Infrastructure Delivery consultation as far back as August 2019 and so was clearly known by other authorities in the HMA, including ABCA. However, despite this, it remains unclear how much of this contribution will go to the Black Country. This lack of clarity on-going in the process does not represent a positively planned approach to addressing the shortfall in the Black Country.

This lack of clarity is further exacerbated by a lack of any clear outcomes to date on this issue, due to an absence of any statements of common ground (SOCG) prepared between ABCA and other HMA authorities. National policy is clear that these should be produced using the approach set out in national planning guidance, and be made publicly available throughout the plan-making process to provide transparency (NPPF 2021, paragraph 27). The lack of such details on progress towards addressing the strategic matters
at this stage is inconsistent with national policy and raises further concerns that the housing shortfall will not be properly addressed in the BCP.

Despite engagement between the GB&BCHMA authorities to date there is no conclusive outcome in relation to the strategic cross-boundary matter of redistribution of unmet housing needs from Birmingham and BCA. This is not a sound basis for plan-making. As stated in the recently published North Warwickshire Local Plan Inspector’s Final Report dated 20 July 2021 “the exercise of the D to C is not a matter of process without effect” (para 22). There is every likelihood that reaching a consensus on this strategic matter will be a
lengthy disharmonious process between the GB&BCHMA authorities.


The current piecemeal approach of independently preparing separate SoCG between individual authorities during the preparation of each Local Plan is unacceptable and provides no certainty that unmet housing needs will be met. The approach should be holistic. As a matter of urgency, the GB&BCHMA authorities should prepare a Joint SoCG. Without a Joint SoCG, there is no real commitment to resolving the redistribution of unmet housing needs in full across the GB&BCHMA. Similar approaches have been taken to good effect elswhere, including across the Coventry and Warwickshire HMA as well as between Leicester City and the other Leicestershire authorities. The GB&BCHMA authorities should set out where unmet housing need will be met. A Joint SoCG should confirm that:

• each authority will meet its own LHN calculated using the Government’s revised standard methodology plus a defined amount of unmet LHN (except Birmingham City Council, BCA, and other areas where the evidence is demonstrated they cannot meet their own needs). This cumulative
figure will be the housing requirement figure for each authority respectively; and
• an acknowledgement by the GB&BCHMA authorities that additionality in HLS will be required to ensure deliverability and flexibility.