To ask the Minister for Communities what actions have been taken to ensure each local council’s planning departments and community plans include sustainable targets to meet social housing need over the next 10 years.

Local Development Plans and the subsequent consultations included the Housing Executive as the statutory body with responsibility for addressing housing need through new social homes.

Since 2015, staff from Housing Executive Place Shaping Teams have contributed to the development of each community plan to ensure housing is a key outcome. This is important given the statutory link between community plans and the development plans.

As a statutory consultee, they provide evidence on social housing need on a 15 year basis and work closely with Councils on developing housing policy. The Housing Executive continues to play a key role in the development

process by providing input at various stages of the plan and by providing detailed information on potential opportunities and constraints to housing

development. The LDPs have a statutory requirement to further sustainable development and there is a legal duty to complete Sustainability Appraisals in respect of emerging LDP policy.

I also sought input for this answer from the Department for Infrastructure and it has stated that the Local Council’s emerging Local Development Plans (LDPs) must take account of The Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) and the Regional Development Strategy (RDS). This is a legislative requirement.

The SPPS identifies that a Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) and Housing Market Analysis (HMA) is undertaken by the Housing Executive, which will identify the range of specific housing needs, including social/affordable housing requirements over the plan period. The development plan process (the LDPs) is the primary vehicle to facilitate any identified need by zoning land or by indicating through key site requirements, where a proportion of a site may be required for social/affordable housing. This does not preclude other sites coming forward through the development management process. DfI has a statutory role which gives consideration as to whether or not the LDP has taken account of policy and guidance issued by DfI, including the RDS and the SPPS.

Each council’s LDP is comprised of two documents (a Plan Strategy – setting out a vision, objectives and strategy, and a Local Policies Plan – setting out more local detailed policies and zonings). Both documents will then be tested for soundness at an independent examination, conducted by the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC), before they are adopted.