Councils across South Worcestershire are seeking potential development sites as they begin work on a new Local Plan covering the area until 2049.
A “call for sites” has been issued by Malvern Hills District, Worcester City, and Wychavon District Councils.
It is part of early work on the new Local Plan, which will eventually replace the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (SWDPR) adopted in March.
This move comes as a response to government changes in calculating housing need, which has increased the number of homes required across South Worcestershire.
It is a preliminary information-gathering exercise and not a consultation.
It invites developers, agents, landowners, and site promoters, as well as individuals and organisations, to propose land for inclusion in the new Local Plan.
Sites can be submitted for various uses, including housing developments, new towns or villages, self-build and custom housebuilding, gypsy and/or traveller pitches, employment land, and leisure, recreation, and community facilities.
The submission of a site does not guarantee its inclusion in the new Plan or any planning permission. Instead, it provides planners with an early understanding of potentially available land and its possible uses.
All submitted sites will be assessed for suitability as part of the housing and economic land availability assessment, which will guide future work on the Plan.
A formal scoping consultation is scheduled for September.
This will allow the public to voice their opinions on the issues the new Local Plan should address, where future housing and employment growth should be concentrated, the type of homes required by communities, and how the plan can support job creation, town centres, transport, infrastructure, and environmental protection.
Further consultations will occur throughout the process, which is expected to last 30 months from the end of October.
The new plan will cover the period up to 2049.
Cllr Pat Agar, chair of the South Worcestershire Local Plan joint advisory panel, overseeing the preparation of the new Plan, said the exercise is to “understand what land may be available and start building the evidence needed to plan for future development in the right places.”
