Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA)

All local planning authorities are required by national planning policy and guidance to maintain an up-to-date record of the amount of land that is available for new development, including land for housing and economic development. This process is known as the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA).

The HELAA will help in the preparation of the review of the Local Plan (to cover the period to 2039) by identifying potential sites for new homes, employment and other land uses. It will show which sites are being promoted for development at a particular time and and will be updated regularly. The HELAA replaces the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment which identified potential sites for new homes as part of the Local Plan (2006-26). 

We worked with other Berkshire authorities to agree on a methodology for HELAA [612KB] , to help achieve a common approach.

The HELAA is a technical assessment, not a policy-making document. It will not make recommendations on which sites should be developed but will make a preliminary assessment of their suitability and potential. The information we gather from this process will help inform the Local Plan, which will allocate sites for housing and economic development to cover the period up to 2039.

It is important to note that whilst the HELAA will identify potential sites, it will not allocate them for development or add weight to the site for the purpose of decision making on a planning application. The allocation of future sites for development will only take place through statutory plan processes (eg Local Plan, Neighbourhood Plans) which undergo public consultation and independent examination.
 

HELAA report

The HELAA was first published in February 2020 and was updated in December 2020. A third update was prepared in January 2023, and you can view the HELAA report and appendices below:

• HELAA (January 2023) [795KB]
• Appendix 1 - Residential and specialist residential sites with planning permission [348KB]  (not complete at 31 March 2022)
• Appendix 2 - Summary of non-residential sites with planning permission [190KB]  (not complete at 31 March 2022)
• Appendix 3 - Sites allocated in development plan documents [246KB]  (without planning permission at 31 March 2022)
• Appendix 4 - Assessment of sites [694KB]

You can view an interactive map of the HELAA which provides summarised site assessments.

Can I submit a potential development site?

Sites can be submitted to us at any time and will be considered in future updates of the HELAA.

If you would like to submit a site, please complete the 'Call for Sites' Housing and Land Availability Assessment Site Submission Form [144KB] and return it to the Planning Policy Team.