Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment

The primary purpose of the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA), which local planning authorities are required to prepare is to:

• identify sites with the potential for housing or employment
• assess how many homes or floorspace they could provide
• assess when they could be developed.

It is a technical document and an important evidence source to inform decision making on future housing and employment development, but does not determine whether a site will be allocated. As required in national policy, it includes a high level strategic overview of the deliverability/developability of each identified/promoted site in terms of its suitability, availability and achievability.

Sites should be capable of accommodating at least five residential units or for employment sites the land area should be at least 0.25 hectares or able to accommodate at least 500 square metres of floorspace.

If you have, or know of any sites, that you would like to be considered for future development, please submit details using the call for sites below.

Current consultation - Call for sites (January 2025)

The council is undertaking a Call for Sites to inform the ongoing Local Plan Update process. The Call for Sites is for developers, landowners or other interested parties to let the council know about sites that could be suitable for housing and submissions on brownfield land are particularly encouraged. The council is also welcoming information on sites that are suitable for employment uses, renewable energy, Biodiversity Net Gain and nutrient mitigation in the River Test and Itchen catchments.

The call for sites closes on Friday 17 February 2025.

More information on the call for sites consultation

Current position on the SHELAA

The most recent version of the SHELAA can be viewed below. It was published in December 2024.

The base date for the housing land supply position and monitoring information is 1 April 2024.

Use our mapping system to view the sites included in the SHELAA

Documents

SHELAA Report 2024 and Appendix 1(PDF) [964 kb]

Appendix 2 Sites not subject to further assessment(PDF) [2 Mb]

Appendix 3 Housing Allocations(PDF) [289 kb]

Appendix 4a Opportunity Sites in Settlement Policy Boundaries(PDF) [2 Mb]

Appendix 4b Opportunity Sites in Settlement Policy Boundaries not policy compliant(PDF) [3 Mb]

Appendix 5 Sites outside Settlement Policy Boundaries(PDF) [3 Mb]

Appendix 6 Maps(PDF) [11 Mb]