Here’s how close Hastings is to its three-year housebuilding target

Published last week, the government’s latest housing delivery test figures show four out of the five local planning authorities in the county failed to deliver the housing required in the three years up to March 2021.

Only Lewes District Council achieved its three-year target, building 825 new homes against a 709-home requirement. 

All of the other authorities — Eastbourne Borough Council, Hastings Borough Council, Rother District Council and Wealden District Council — fell short of their targets and will continue to face sanctions as a result.

Eastbourne, Hastings and Rother all fell below 75 per cent of their target and, as a result, will need to continue to apply a ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ when making planning decisions. 

Hastings fell short of its three-year target, building just 375 homes against a 903 requirement. This amounts to 42 per cent. 

Cllr Andy Batsford, Hastings Borough Council’s lead councillor for housing and homelessness, said: “Tackling homelessness and providing affordable homes for our residents is one of the council’s top priorities, as stated in our corporate plan. As part of this we have recently committed to providing 500 affordable homes for our residents.

 “We have a Housing Delivery Test Action Plan which details the ways we are working to deliver new homes within our town, including developing a new Local Plan. 

“The Housing Delivery Action Plan is due to be updated in the summer. We continue to work to find appropriate sites for development to provide the new homes required.”

Rother District Council, meanwhile, built 677 new homes against a three-year target of 1,189.

A Rother District Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the need for more housing across Rother. In 2020 we established our own housing company to accelerate the delivery of housing within the District, focusing on meeting the identified housing needs within our communities. This includes a 200 home development in Battle which starts on site this spring.

“We also continue to work with the Government and developers to ensure the housing we grant permission for is delivered. Currently planning applications are often granted but not built out for a number of years, if at all. 

“This has a huge knock on effect on our ability to deliver housing in the right places and at the right time, alongside the timely investment in infrastructure.”