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.
Does the council already have a LAA?
A Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA) was published in March 2018 to support the draft Tonbridge and Malling Local Plan, which was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in January 2019. The Local Plan was subsequently withdrawn on July 13 2021, following the Inspectors’ findings that we had failed to meet the Duty to Cooperate, which could not be addressed through the examination process.
The SLAA that was submitted to support the withdrawn Local Plan is available to view. Please note that this document represents a point in time and that the LAA is currently being reviewed.
- See the Strategic Land Availability Assessment 2018
- See the Strategic Land Availability Assessment 2016
Reviewing the LAA
Since 2021, we have undertaken two “call for sites” exercises and a targeted gypsy and traveller call for sites, to progress an updated LAA evidence base.
The starting point for the new assessment is to review the existing SLAA, considering the availability of sites alongside updating assessments having regard to national policy. We are also progressing the assessment of sites submitted as part of the call for sites process. We will publish an up-to-date Interim LAA alongside the Regulation 18 consultation later in 2025.
In the meantime, you can view all sites submitted to us since 2016 using our Placemaker interactive map. The map shows the following:
- Withdrawn SLAA sites (as submitted) - These sites are dated from 2016 and updated in 2018 and informed the Withdrawn Local Plan SLAA evidence base.
- Call-for-Sites 1 and 2 (as submitted) which were submitted to TMBC through two call-for-sites exercises which closed in February 2022 and November 2022 respectively.
- Withdrawn SLAA sites considered in LAA review – This shows a refined version of our data where duplicates have been removed, where these were submitted as part of the Call for Sites 1 and 2, as well as sites that have been fully built out or are currently under construction.
- Call for sites 1 and 2 considered in the LAA review - This shows a refined version of our data where duplicates have been removed, as well as sites that have been fully built out or are currently under construction.
The interactive map includes constraints layers which can be toggled on/off so that sites can be seen in context.
Please note that site reference numbers shown on the interactive map relate to the council’s reference numbers and do not correlate with the placemaker reference number.
Call for sites
We have re-opened the ‘call for sites’ as part of our evidence gathering process as we continue work on the new Tonbridge and Malling Local Plan.
This provides a further 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.