Wealden District Council
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Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA)

Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment

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:

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:

Online Mapping System

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’

The Council is undertaking a new ‘Call for Sites’ as part of its Wealden (Regulation 18) Local plan. For further information please use this link: Call For Sites – Wealden District Council – Wealden District Council