Brownfield Updated
Laura Cornborough, Havant Borough Council Senior Planning Policy Officer, Planning Services, has written to HIRA with the following clarification re the public's contribution towards the Brownfield register. Please note that the Infrastructure Advisory Group was told, last year, that the Council does rely on the public to help keep the Brownfield Register up to date.
"I can confirm that I'm the Planning Policy contact in regards to the Brownfield Register.
Brownfield registers provide up-to-date, publicly available information on brownfield land that is suitable for housing irrespective of its planning status (i.e. whether it has planning permission or not). The inclusion of a site on the Brownfield Register does not necessarily mean that it will get planning permission though. When sites are submitted to us we assess them in terms of their sustainability. We take into account not only the site's suitability for housing, but we are also required to take account of achievability and availability. Our brownfield register is available at https://www.havant.gov.uk/evidence-base-studies/strategic-housing-land-availability-assessment (please scroll to the bottom). The data has to be expressed in a particular format, which is set by Government (details are in the second link from the bottom).
As I mentioned, sites need to be available for development for us to consider them. In order for us to be able to determine whether a site is available we would need confirmation from the landowner that the land is or will be available for development. If the landowner has approached [us] confirming that the site is available, please encourage them to respond to our consultation on the draft Local Plan, ideally through the online survey where there is a specific option to suggest a new site. However it should only be landowners of sites which are or will be available for development who put them forward. I should also clarify, that all sites are assessed on their own merits - the inclusion of an additional brownfield site would not necessarily mean that another greenfield site is taken out particularly given the need for housing in the area. It would simply mean that there is another site which can be allocated for housing development."
