Selecting, identifying and assessing sites for local plans
An introduction on how to identify, assess and select sites for development as part of the local plan making process.
Applies to England
For plans under the legacy plan-making system
If you are submitting your plan under the legacy system, use the create or update a local plan legacy system guidance.
The legacy system covers plans to be adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, excluding the amendments made by the LURA, and The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.
This guidance sets out a recommended process to follow when identifying, assessing and selecting sites for local plans. We recommend that you read the whole guidance before you start.
About the sites process
The sites process allows you to identify and assess land that could be used for housing or employment, as well as other land uses. You can then select which sites to put forward in your draft plan.
It’s an essential part of preparing your local plan and delivering a spatial strategy. Comprehensive site selection helps you deliver on your plan-making needs and objectives. This guidance is designed to help you meet the expectations of national planning policy.
The 4 stages
The site selection process consists of 4 stages:
- Stage 1 – identifying sites
- Stage 2 – assessing sites
- Stage 3 – determining your draft allocations
- Stage 4 – confirming your draft allocations and recording your decisions
Getting started
You can begin work to understand the availability of land in your area and commence the sites process early in plan making. See the 30-month plan process overview for further guidance on timescales and preparing local plans.
Depending on your local circumstances you may want to work with neighbouring authorities to produce joint evidence on site identification and land availability.
Who this guidance is for
This guidance is primarily designed for local planning authorities (LPAs).
The method set out in this guidance is designed to support local plans. You could also use it to identify land for minerals and waste plans.
Neighbourhood planning bodies can also use the method set out in this guidance to assess sites. Any assessment needs to be proportionate to the nature of the plan.
Neighbourhood planning bodies can use existing site assessments prepared by the LPA as a starting point when identifying sites to allocate within a neighbourhood plan.
How to use this guidance
This guidance supports the identification and assessment of sites for housing and employment development. However, you could adapt this for other land uses.
It will help show you have followed a robust approach to site selection. Its goal is to increase the likelihood your plan is found to be sound at examination.
Your assessment needs to be thorough but proportionate, building where possible on existing information sources outlined within the guidance.
This guidance focuses on:
- a framework and supporting methodologies for identifying sites
- what data to collect during the call for sites process
- how to assess sites you have identified
- an approach to selecting the sites that meet your plan vision
- documenting your narrative on why you selected these sites
It provides direction on site selection while still being adaptable so you can consider local needs and circumstances. No two LPAs are the same or face the same challenges and this guidance does not seek to replace local planning judgement. Instead, it provides a consistent framework to work in. It’s flexible enough to account for local circumstances and we encourage you to adapt it to your needs.
It’s important you document when and why you make decisions on the sites you select throughout the process, particularly where you have departed from this guidance. To meet national policy expectations, you should be able to show that you have:
- followed a logical, consistent method to identify and select the sites you’re taking forward as draft allocations
- why you have not taken forward alternatives
Other requirements to consider as you go through the process
There are other legal requirements, which are not set out in detail in this guidance, to bear in mind as you go through the sites process.
The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Regulations) applies to qualifying plans and programmes. If the SEA Regulations apply to your local plan, they broadly require that you:
- assess the likely significant environmental effects of your local plan and reasonable alternatives to that local plan
- consult on an environmental report containing that assessment
- when adopting the plan, explain how the SEA process influenced the plan
To help meet SEA requirements through your sites process, you should consider and keep records of:
- the likely significant environmental effects of your spatial strategy and preferred site selection
- alternatives to your spatial strategy and preferred sites that meet your policy objectives, and the likely significant environmental effects of those alternatives
- how you have used the information you record to inform your preferred spatial strategy and site selection
Following the method set out in this guidance will help you meet SEA requirements related to consideration of sites.
More guidance on SEA will be published in future.
In accordance with Chapter 8 of Part 6 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (the Habitats Regulations), you may be required to carry out an assessment if your plan is likely to have a significant effect on a protected site.