The Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) is an essential piece of evidence which is required to support the Local Plan process. The assessment is promoted and set out in National Planning Practice Guidance. It is a technical assessment which considers the suitability, availability and achievability of land in the district for possible development. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) confirms that strategic policy-making authorities should have a clear understanding of the land available in its area through the preparation of a SHELAA and that planning policies for housing should identify a supply of:
- specific, deliverable sites for five years following the intended date of adoption of a Local Plan; and
- specific developable sites or broad locations for growth, for the subsequent years 6-10 and, where possible, for years 11-15 of the remaining plan period.
The assessment does not in itself determine whether a site should be allocated for development but is a high-level assessment used as a starting point to decide whether sites could be developed for housing, economic development or other uses in a Local Plan.
SHELAA Methodology Post Consultation Statement
The Council produced a draft SHELAA methodology in June 2020 and consulted on this between 1 June 2020 and 29 June 2020. The SHELAA methodology is used in the assessment of sites for their suitability, availability and achievability. In total, 17 responses were received to the consultation from a range of respondents including statutory consultees, wildlife groups, parish and town councils, local residents and land agents.
The SHELAA Methodology Post Consultation Statement is published below.
The changes made to the SHELAA Methodology have been incorporated into the SHELAA Report dated February 2024.
This report provides the site assessments for all sites submitted to the Council for development up until 31st March 2023. The main SHELAA report includes the methodology for the site assessments, as well as individual site summaries for each site submitted to us, which has been produced by Wealden District Council in support of its Regulation 18 Local Plan. The main SHELAA report and the appendices are available to download below:
- Main SHELAA Report – February 2024 (includes Appendices 1, 2 and 3
- Appendix 4 to SHELAA Report – Parish Site Summaries
Should you have any comments on the SHELAA such as factual errors or wish to submit further information in relation to your site then please use this form to submit comments.
Should you wish to withdraw your site from the SHELAA process then please use the form below.
Online SHELAA Mapping
You can view all sites included within the February 2024 SHELAA, including their suitability/unsuitability for development on our online mapping system.
To use the mapping system, click on the following link:
In order to see the relevant layers, go to ‘map features’ icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen and click ‘planning policy’ to toggle the layers on/off as required. The SHELAA is not a statement of Council planning policy, it is an evidence base to inform plan making only.
New ‘Call for Sites’
We continue to invite landowners, site promoters and other stakeholders to submit land for consideration for a range of uses. You may submit your site via our online consultation portal. We are encouraging submissions for the following land uses:
- Housing (including older persons housing, self and custom build plots, Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Show People pitches / plots)
- Employment uses (including industrial, office, retail, and leisure)
- Mixed use (this may include a mix of different uses such as housing and employment or Housing and Green Infrastructure for example
- Habitat Banks and Nature Conservation or Nature Recovery
- Green / Blue Infrastructure
- Carbon offsetting
- Renewable energy generation, storage, and infrastructure
- Natural Flood Management
Please read the Call for Sites Guidance Notes and Data Protection Statement below before completing the survey. You must include a map, which clearly identifies the boundary of the site. Please state the site address clearly on the map.
Should you have any queries with regards to the portal or general questions regarding the assessment then please contact the Planning Policy Team on 01892 602008, or by email on shelaa@wealden.gov.uk
Call for Sites Guidance notes
The submission of a site through the call for sites exercise will not provide any planning status and does not allocate sites or imply that the council will necessarily grant planning permission. Sites will only be allocated through the Local Plan process and will be subject to public consultation and Examination as part of the Local Plan process.
Should you have any queries with regards to the portal or general questions regarding the assessment then please contact the Planning Policy Team on 01892 602008, or by email on shelaa@wealden.gov.uk
Data Protection Statement
The information collected from the call for sites process will be used by Wealden District Council to inform the assessment and subsequent components of its emerging Local Plan. Ultimately, a report will be published on the Council’s website and hard copies will be made available for purchase. By completing this survey, you are accepting that the information within it will be in the public domain and as such, may be disclosed under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. By completing this survey, you confirm that you agree to this and accept responsibility for your comments.
The Council will not publish personal information such as your name, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses or private addresses on its website or in hard copy format.
Wealden District Council is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected and will only use and store your personal data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018. We collect and use your personal data in order to provide services you have requested from us or to carry out our legal obligations to you. We will not disclose your personal data to any third parties, unless we need to do so to provide a service to you or we are legally required to do so. We may share your personal data with other Council departments in order to provide the service you have requested and to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate and up-to-date. Our Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use, and securely hold your data. If you want more information on how a particular Council service uses your personal data, please view the Privacy Notices on our website using the following link: Wealden Privacy Policy.
If you are unable to complete this survey and provide the required information using this method please email shelaa@wealden.gov.uk or telephone 01892 602008.