The National Planning Policy Framework 2024 requires us to produce a Land Availability Assessment (LAA). It’s an important evidence base which is used in the preparation of a Local Plan.
National Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) sets out how local authorities should prepare a LAA.
An LAA is a technical assessment that identifies land and assesses land’s availability, suitability and deliverability for housing and employment. It can also identify land for other uses, such as those for nature or climate change.
In relation to housing, the purpose of the assessment is to provide local planning authorities with a clear understanding of what sites are ideally available for development. Along with other information and evidence, it identifies potential locations for housing growth in the emerging Tonbridge and Malling Local Plan to support a supply of:
- Specific, deliverable sites for five years following the intended date of adoption of the Local Plan.
- Specific, developable sites or broad locations for growth, for the subsequent years 6-10 and, where possible, for years 11-15 of the remaining plan period.
PPG makes it clear that the assessment does not in itself determine whether a site should be allocated for development. This is the function of a Development Plan which determines which of those sites are the most suitable to meet the housing, employment or other use requirements. The LAA is therefore only one part of the Local Plan evidence used to determine potential development sites in a Local Plan.
The information in the LAA can also be used by local communities which are preparing Neighbourhood Plans.
View our digital Land Availability Assessment
Note: When viewing the digital LAA appendix 3 site summaries map in full-screen mode, site details are hidden. To view site information, exit full-screen mode.
View the LAA and appendix 3 documents in a PDF format
You can view all sites submitted to us since 2016 using our Placemaker interactive map
Call for sites
Our call for sites remains open as part of our evidence gathering process, as we continue work on the new Tonbridge and Malling Local Plan. This provides opportunity for landowners, site promoters and stakeholders to suggest potential sites that may be suitable for housing or employment development or for other uses that could provide benefits to communities.
Following previous call for sites events the most recent of which closed on 26 March 2025, you can submit a new site or amend an existing site. If you have previously submitted a site, then you do not need to resubmit this.