The Housing Delivery Test – will it make any difference to your planning appeal’s success?

Is it worth waiting for the overdue Housing Delivery Test (HDT) results before submitting a planning application or appeal? Will it make any difference to your appeal’s chances of success? You may find the answers are not what you expected.

To wait or not to wait for the Housing Delivery Test results

If you’re fed up waiting for the official HDT results, you can estimate its likely results by using the ‘net homes delivered’ figures which have already been published. Links to the data and advice on how to use it are in our Insider’s Guide to the Housing Delivery Test.  It should take less than 15 minutes to work out whether your local planning authority is likely to fail the test this year.

If the HDT test results drop below 75% then the “presumption in favour” is engaged, irrespective of  a local planning authority’s five year housing land supply. This can dramatically tilt the balance in favour of development BUT (and it’s a very big BUT) it is still up to the decision maker to weigh up the benefits against the harms. I’ll return to whether it is likely to make a difference to the planning decision shortly

Let's assume you've done a quick check of last year's HDT results and/or checked this year's net homes delivered figures, and the situation is looking marginal for the local planning authority concerned. We wouldn’t hold back submitting an appeal (or a planning application either) in the hope that the forthcoming HDT results will make a difference.  Nevertheless, it’s worth referring to the current HDT figure so that you have an excuse to update it in your reply to the LPA’s statement of case in due course.

In any event, it's sensible not to rely too heavily on the presumption, but instead to emphasise the development’s design qualities and other benefits. In most cases it’s sufficient to bring housing delivery to the Inspector’s attention. There's plenty of evidence of housing need out there and you don't need to wait for the Housing Delivery Test results to make a good case.

Will the Housing Delivery Test result make a difference to a planning appeal?

If you are hoping the HDT will swing a planning decision in your favour, then bear the following caveats in mind:

1. The ‘presumption in favour’ is not a silver bullet as the balancing of benefits against harms is for the decision maker's planning judgement.
2. The benefits of a minor residential planning applications are often considered “limited in scale” by planning inspectors.
3. Harm to the character and appearance of the area is often given significant weight because the Framework is clear that creating high quality and beautiful places is fundamental to good planning.
4. Even if policies are deemed out-of-date, this does not mean they carry no weight. The weight to be afforded to out-of-date policies is a matter for the Decision Maker’s own judgement.

We checked how many appeals were allowed and how many were dismissed over January to December 2022, which either mentioned “housing delivery test” or “tilted balance”.  The results were surprising:

This quick survey suggests failing the Housing Delivery Test did not make much difference to the likely outcome of an appeal. What the above figures don’t show is whether a planning application is less likely to be refused planning consent in the first place. It’s to be hoped that a local planning authority with low housing delivery will be more inclined to grant planning consent – otherwise the Framework would be pretty ineffective.

Many appeals show an Inspector putting more emphasis on design than on housing supply, perhaps unsurprisingly for small developments.  A typical response in appeal Decisions goes along these lines: “Although the Framework seeks to significantly boost the supply of homes, it also aims to achieve well-designed places. The harm I identify above in relation to the character and appearance of the area would therefore significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits when assessed against the policies in the Framework as a whole.”

Our findings suggest it would be unwise to put too much store on the housing delivery test result, particularly for smaller residential developments.  It does not overcome design problems or other perceived harms.  The situation improves for larger sites contributing a significant number of dwellings, where the benefits to a LPA's housing delivery position is significantly improved by the development. We consider the Housing Delivery Test results offers most benefit to the larger sites, rather than smaller residential developments.

Beware of the Housing Delivery Test results giving a false sense of security

To conclude, don’t let the fact a LPA has failed the Housing Delivery Test to lull you into a false sense of security. The current emphasis is ‘beautiful design’ rather than delivery.  Planning authorities and Planning Inspectors alike are using design concerns to crush proposals everywhere. Be cautious.

If in doubt, learn from other peoples’ mistakes. Check out how their appeals went, by searching for them on our Home page, so you can be wiser with yours.