Local Housing Needs Assessment, London Borough of Wandsworth

Client: London Borough of Wandsworth
Location: London
Discipline(s):

As part of the London Borough of Wandsworth’s work towards their new Local Plan, GL Hearn's Economics team were invited to deliver a Local Housing Need Assessment in accordance with paragraph 60 of the National Planning Policy Framework. The documents set out the housing needs figure and identified the quantum of affordable and specialist forms of accommodation and market homes in line with Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). The study was highly cognisant of its London context, for example the different types of affordable housing set out in the London Plan.

Outcome 

As well as providing the evidence to enable plan-makers to address each component of PPG in the emerging Local Plan, the Economics team were able to provide a document tailored to the Borough by gathering ward-level data to enable policy to reflect more granular contours of need. The study provided:

• a housing needs figure that reconciles both the “standard method” and the London Plan housing target for LBW;
• the need for affordable housing and how this should be split between rented and home ownership products, carefully noting the mayor of London's “preferred” affordable products (London Affordable and Living Rent and Shared Ownership);
• housing for the elderly and disabled people and student accommodation;
• the role of build to rent, co-living, HMOs and micro-flats in meeting need for affordable market housing;
• and evidence to show the extent of the threat posed to the ability of residents to access low cost market housing by the growth of short-term lets.

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