Updated March 2024
In England, the National Planning Policy Framework requires authorities to produce and update a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).
A SHLAA is a study of sites which have the potential of accommodating residential development. It identifies the site, the constraints, the likely number of dwellings and determines when the land might be developed for housing.
In most places SHLAAs are conducted across a Local Planning Authority area. However, in London, the mayor carries out a city-wide SHLAA to determine borough housing targets in the London Plan. It is a technical exercise to determine the quantity and suitability of potentially available sites, its purpose being to provide a robust indication of housing capacity to inform plan making and the identification of deliverability of supply of housing land.
Authorities will undertake a Call for Sites, which encourages landowners and other interested parties to provide information of sites for the SHLAA. Usually information requested at submission relates to landownership and availability, any known constraints, proposed developments (and associated planning application references if available) and anticipated timescales for delivery.
The Assessment will only consider sites which meet a set threshold in either dwelling capacity and/or size, with national guidance noting that a site should be capable of delivering five or more dwellings. An authority may consider alternative site size thresholds.
A SHLAA is not a site allocations exercise and does not mean that a site will definitely be developed for housing. It includes sites that may already be under construction but have further dwellings to be delivered, those that already have planning permission or a resolution to grant planning permission, as well as sites that are under construction but have further dwellings to be delivered. Also included are housing allocations in the Local Plan which do not yet benefit from planning permission and sites which do not yet have planning permission but have been identified by the authority or promoted by landowners, agents or developers, and are considered suitable for development.
The SHLAA should be updated periodically to ensure that the data is as up to date as possible as the status of sites can change over time. For example, a site might be granted planning permission, permission may lapse or construction might commence.
What is an ELAA?
An authority can use the same assessment process to consider opportunities for employment land. This is known as an Employment Land Availability Assessment (ELAA). The threshold for economic development should be sites of 0.25 hectares (or 500 sq m of floor space) and above, unless an authority considers an alternative site size threshold is justified.
What is a SHELAA?
Should the two assessments be combined it would be known as a Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA).
Further information
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