Draft Local Plan Review

Thank you for consulting Lichfield District Council on the Local Plan Review. The comments below focus on the primary areas of concern Lichfield District Council have. In future Lichfield District Council would welcome Duty to Cooperate meetings to address such matters.

The commitment to meeting your Objectively Assessed Housing Needs (OAHN) in full is welcoming. However, Lichfield District Council are concerned that there is a lack of commitment to addressing the Greater Birmingham Housing Market Area (GBHMA) shortfall. The draft Plan indicates testing a 2, 000 dwelling contribution towards the shortfall. This is considered pre-emptive because an appropriate assessment across the GBHMA is required to ascertain the most suitable means of delivering this shortfall. As such setting a ceiling is not considered appropriate and fails to meet the commitments associated with cross boundary cooperation as set out within the NPPF. As a minimum it is recommended that the emerging Solihull Local Plan acknowledges and commits to meeting the findings of the work currently being undertaken across the GBHMA.