Housing

There is a statutory requirement for the National Planning Framework (NPF) to include ‘targets for the use of land in different areas of Scotland for housing’.

This requirement is new and has required a new approach to be developed.

Explanatory report

We have published our NPF4 Housing Land Requirement Explanatory Report Addendum alongside Revised Draft NPF4. This explains our approach where a local authority has completed a new Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) since Draft NPF4 was published, where applicable, information from this has been used to update existing need inputs.  

This should be read alongside the housing land requirement explanatory report which was published alongside Draft NPF4.

Consultation on proposed methodology

In March 2020, a discussion paper setting out a proposed methodology for meeting the new requirement was consulted on alongside the NPF4 Call for Ideas.

An independent analysis of the consultation responses was included as part of the analysis for the NPF4 Call for Ideas.

Housing advisory panel

A Housing Advisory Panel was convened to inform the NPF housing work. The panel met in September 2020 and March 2021.

The panel comprised a cross-section of members of the public, private sectors, and academia. The full remit of the panel had been defined previously.

Presentation slides from the meetings;

• September 2020 – Consultation Overview - PDF (1MB)
• September 2020 – Analysis of Responses - PDF (632KB)
• March 2021 – Housing Panel NPF4 Update - PDF (944KB)
• March 2021 – Housing Land Overview - PDF (913KB)

Local authority and stakeholder input

A guiding principle of the approach was that the NPF would be informed by regional and local knowledge and input.

In February 2021, the Scottish Government Chief Planner and Director for Housing and Social Justice wrote to local authority and national parks Heads of Planning and Heads of Housing to seek the input of their authorities and relevant stakeholders. This included:

• A letter requesting input and engagement from across local authority planning and housing (PDF 73KB), and engagement with local stakeholders from the public and private sectors. Initial estimates were provided as a starting point.
• A Method Paper outlining the methodology for the initial estimates (PDF 1.23MB).
• A template - WORD (40KB) was provided for authorities to complete and return.
• Guidance to support completion of the template.
• A calculator was provided (XLS 178KB) to support consideration and to be completed and returned.
• A presentation (PDF 893KB) and Q&A document (pdf 583 KB) were also made available following discussions with the Heads of Planning Development Planning sub-committee and the Housing Advisory Panel.

Responses and assessment reports

Local authorities responded to the request for input. Their responses, including any additional follow-up responses and an Assessment Report by the Scottish Government for each planning authority or grouping of authorities as relevant;