Tewkesbury Borough Council has published its Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement and confirmed a significant shortfall in housing supply.

Based on current planning permission granted for the period 2023/24 - 2027/28, the borough has a deliverable supply of 3.24 years' worth of new housing.

Under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), local planning authorities are required to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites, sufficient to provide a minimum of five years' worth of housing against their local housing need.

It has been calculated that Tewkesbury needs 557 new homes per year over the next five years - a total of 2,785. In addition, the NPPF requires a 5% buffer of extra homes, which takes the requirement for the next five years to 2,924.

But the current deliverable supply until 2028 is just 1,892 homes - which equates to 3.4 years' supply or 3.24 years, based on the 5% buffer.

The calculation is based on current deliverable sites with either outline or detailed planning permission, along with 'small site windfall allowance'. Windfall sites are those which have unexpectedly become available over time, and which were not anticipated by the planning authority when local plans were in preparation. On average, there has been an annual windfall delivery of 46 dwellings in Tewkesbury borough every year.

In addition, the figure takes into account lead times for individual schemes. A scheme of 50-99 properties has an average lead time of 1.4 years from planning consent to the first house being completed, while a scheme of 1,500-1,999 properties has a lead time of 5.3 years.

Based on the fact the council can no longer demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, it said that in making planning decisions involving the provision for housing, the presumption in favour of sustainable development set out in the NPPF applies.

In short, this means approving development plans without delay, unless there is a very clear reason for refusing a proposal.

The council confirmed that, to assist decision making on planning applications for housing and the consideration of relevant policies, it will be publishing its Interim Housing Position Statement later in the autumn.

Writing on LinkedIn, Cheltenham-based planning consultants, SF Planning said: "In general, it's encouraging that the council have adopted a more realistic position and undertaken this important piece of work. We await the impact on applications in the borough with interest and optimism."

On Tuesday (October 17), Tewkesbury Borough Council approved plans for 47 zero carbon homes in Twyning and plans for 18 new homes in Winchcombe.