Crawley’s housebuilding rate way above government targets

But Crawley Borough Council – as planning authority – said the figures remained too low to meet the area’s housing need.

The HDT measures how well a planning authority has performed over the last three years by comparing how many homes have been built to how many are needed.

Between 2018 and 2021, 1,495 homes were built compared to the target of 368 – 406 per cent.

In 2018/19, 522 homes were built, in 2019/20 it was 405 and in 2020/21 it was 568.

A council spokesman said Crawley’s high delivery was due in part to construction rates holding up, notwithstanding the impact of Covid-19.

They added that, while far exceeding the HDT target, the equivalent score in relation to requirements laid out in the council’s adopted Local Plan was 146 per cent – 1,020 needed over the last three years, 1,495 built.

But when it came to actual housing need, the score was only 74 per cent, with 2,025 homes needed

The spokesman added: “The level of housing delivery is holding up well in relation to the Local Plan housing requirement, but it was always anticipated that delivery would be higher in the early part of the Local Plan period 2015-30, and lower in later years, owing to the dwindling of identified housing sites.

“Housing delivery is still below Crawley’s objectively identified housing need and expected to remain so.

“This means that the meeting of the housing needs of Crawley’s population will remain partly dependent on neighbouring authorities, particularly within the North Western Sussex Housing Market Area, notably Horsham and Mid Sussex districts.”

Crawley delivered the highest percentage above target compared to the other local planning authorities in Sussex.  

Adur District Council – 77 per cent

Arun District Council – 65 per cent

Brighton & Hove City Council – 136 per cent

Chichester District Council – 136 per cent

Crawley Borough Council – 406 per cent

Eastbourne Borough Council – 32 per cent

Hastings Borough Council – 42 per cent

Horsham District Council – 147 per cent

Lewes District Council – 116 per cent

Mid Sussex District Council – 124 per cent

Rother District Council – 157 per cent

Wealden District Council – 82 per cent

Worthing Borough Council – 35 per cent

Those which failed to meet the HDT targets face sanctions to make up the shortfall.

Adur District Council, for instance, will need to look again at its Local Plan and identify 20 per cent more land for development in order to avoid under-delivering in future.

Others, though, face losing some control over planning decisions.

Any authority which delivered less than 75 per cent of its target will have to consider all planning applications for approval – unless they are deemed unsustainable or would deliver more harm than benefits to the local area.

This is known as the ‘tilted balance’ and is a part of national planning policy.