Sites identified for 12 years supply of houses, but building figures remain suppressed

Wednesday 20 November 2024

Planners have now earmarked space for more 3,400 homes to be built, latest figures show.

This equates to a supply line of up to more than 12 years, well in excess of the five years they need to have found under States strategy.

The figures are contained in the second quarter Island Development Plan monitoring report produced by the Development & Planning Authority and marks a major uptick compared to the previous quarter, primarily because of the original outline planning permission for Leale's Yard adding to the figures as well as new sites it has identified within its draft review of the Plan itself.

The supply figure normally runs between five and six years.

As of June, there were 1,014 dwellings with permission or under construction, while specific land had been identified for 1,754 more to be built and an allowance for a supply of another 650 over five years through windfall sites is also included.

Windfall sites are those not currently specifically earmarked for housing under the development plan, but become available unexpectedly.

Seven of the areas in the supply capacity were zoned as housing allocation sites as far back as 2016, while some of the new ones may not eventually get zoned as the DPA continues to work on its changes to the IDP as public concern and new housing data forces a rethink.

Major shortfall in affordable housing pipeline

The monitoring report also provides more short-term indications of housing supply.

DPA needs to maintain a minimum two year supply of housing permissions, known as the pipeline supply.

States requirements are for at least 562 to 690 new dwellings, split between private sector and affordable housing.

Again, outline planning permission for Leale's Yard has had a major impact, and in quarter two the figure stood at 1,014 compared to 645 at the end of March.

But the split between private market and affordable housing is skewed dramatically in favour of the former.

There is a supply of 941 in the private market, markedly in excess of the 303-372 requirement, and just 73 affordable housing units, drastically short of the 259-318 the States says should be in the pipeline.

Full planning permission has been granted for 185 additional dwellings in the first half of the year, 73 of those in the second quarter.

The largest planning permission granted this quarter was at Les Oberlands, St Martins for 21
units.

Building actually began on 14 houses in quarter one and 18 in quarter two, while 46 were finished across the first half of the year.

The number of dwellings completed has always been well short of the number of permissions granted since the IDP was adopted in 2013.

There have been 668 units built in the private sector in that time and 200 affordable housing units.