Housing and Economic Land availability Assessment (HELAA)

Background

The National Planning Policy Framework (2023) paragraph 69 requires us to carry out an assessment to have a clear understanding of land available for housing and economic development in the Tandridge district. This assessment is called the HELAA. This is a technical study, which assesses the suitability, availability and achievability of land for development in accordance with the National Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) .  

The HELAA is an important evidence source and helps in the preparation of a Local plan by identifying potential sites for new homes, employment and other land uses and is updated regularly. It does not form a policy neither does it determine whether a site should be allocated for development.

On 5 February 2024 the Council launched a broader call for sites which ran until 17 March 2024. We received around 268 sites along with supporting data for the site maps. The Council is currently processing the data received and will update the webpage in due course.

Call for sites

The Call for sites is an information gathering exercise used to identify potential sites for development.

The latest Call for Sites consultation ended on 17 March 2024. 

We will still accept submissions. However, sites submitted after 17 March 2024 will not be included in the next iteration of our Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA). 

Tell us about a site for development

Sites can be submitted by anyone or any organisation and at any time, however, sites submitted outside the call for sites exercise will be assessed against future HELAA updates.  

We are keen to hear about potential sites for:

Housing

  • Market housing.
  • Affordable housing.
  • Supported housing or accommodation for older people.
  • Custom and self-build housing.
  • Gypsy and Traveller pitches or Travelling Showpeople plots.

Economic development

  • Offices.
  • Retail.
  • Industrial and warehousing.
  • Leisure and recreation.
  • Culture, tourism and arts.

Other uses, including:

  • Community.
  • Blue and green infrastructure such as open spaces, rewilding, natural flood mitigation or renewable energy.
  • Biodiversity net gain.

To submit a site for consideration, please complete this online form providing as much information as possible. We will carefully consider the site and contact you if we require further information.

To ensure a fair and consistent assessment of sites, we will not consider any additional promotion site information.

Before you submit

Please follow the submission guidelines:

  • Complete a separate form for each site.
  • The site should be capable of delivering five or more dwellings for residential, or be 0.25 hectares or more in size (or capable of providing a minimum of 500 sqm floorspace) for economic development. These minimum thresholds do not apply for sites submitted with the intention to be developed for Gypsy and Traveller pitches or Travelling Showpeople plots.
  • The site must be situated wholly or partially within the Tandridge district.
  • We will not accept anonymous submissions.
  • A site location plan should accompany the form. The plan should clearly identify the site boundary in red. The map should be of a suitable scale (preferably 1:1250) on an Ordnance Survey (OS) base map, clearly identifying the site boundary and two street names. If you are able to, please submit an ESRI shapefile(or a GeoJson file) showing the site boundary along with the OS plan.

If you require help to complete the form, please e-mail the Local Plan Team.

Frequently asked questions

The call for sites is an information gathering exercise which we are required by the Government to carry out.

Its purpose is to help the Council identify land which may have potential for housing, economic and other forms of development in the Tandridge district.

No, sites submitted through this exercise are not automatically allocated for development. This is simply an inventory of sites being put forward for development.

The sites will be technically assessed in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (December 2023) criteria which are availability, suitability and achievability.

The assessment will form part of the evidence base, in the form of a Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA).

There is no requirement to consult on the submitted sites as they will only form the basis of the HELAA which is a factual report and assessment of potential land for development.

Allocations will be identified through the production of the Development Plan, (i.e. a Local Plan or Neighbourhood Plan) and as part of that process will be subject to consultation.

No, all previously submitted sites should be resubmitted as we have updated our questionnaire.

No, anyone can submit land for potential development regardless of land ownership.

In December 2023, the Council ran a Brownfield Call for Sites exercise for six weeks up to 15 January 2024 to update our Brownfield Land Register. Only sites which had been previously developed could be submitted as part of the Brownfield Call for Sites.

The current call for sites is a broader information gathering exercise, which does not focus solely on previously developed land.

Sites submitted as part of this call for sites will form the basis of a HELAA. The HELAA is not a document which allocates sites.

Government planning policy for traveller sites (2023) requires Local Plan policies are fair, realistic and inclusive and address any under provision of traveller sites and maintain an appropriate level of supply. This will help us reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments.

In line with policy, the call for sites is therefore asking specifically for sites which might be suitable for the travelling community. We will carefully assess sites to enable the provision of suitable and sustainable accommodation.

All submitted sites, including their locations will be published on this website in due course.

No. A generic e-mail informing of the call for sites was sent to any party which had either previously responded to a consultation by the Planning Policy Team and/or had expressed a wish to be kept up to date on Planning Policy matters.

Should you wish to be informed of further planning policy updates, please email LocalPlan@tandridge.gov.uk

No. Only sites submitted usingthe online form on our website will be considered. A word document containing the form questions is available for information only.