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Planning policy – monitoring and information

Policies, reviews, registers and reports relating to housing land supply and availability, flood risk, self-build and custom-build.

Planning policies

The aim of central Government is to ensure that 90 per cent of suitable brownfield sites have planning permission for housing by 2020.

To achieve this Government require all Local Planning Authorities to produce a brownfield register.

Only sites that meet the Government’s definition of brownfield land will be considered:

‘Land which is or was occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land (although it should not be assumed that the whole of the curtilage should be developed) and any associated fixed surface infrastructure.’

This excludes:

  • land that is or has been occupied by agricultural or forestry buildings
  • land that has been developed for minerals extraction or waste disposal by landfill purposes where provision for restoration has been made through development control procedures
  • land in built-up areas such as private residential gardens, parks, recreation grounds and allotments
  • land that was previously-developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape in the process of time

To be considered suitable for housing, sites must meet the above definition of brownfield land and must be:

  • available (either in the short term within five years or in the medium term between six and 10 years)
  • capable of accommodating five or more dwellings or more than 0.25 hectares – although smaller sites may also be considered
  • capable of development, for example, suitable for residential use and free from constraints that cannot be mitigated

Download Brownfield register CSV file

The council’s current Five year land supply statement 2023-2028  if you have any questions on this matter please contact the spatial planning team, Spatial.Planning@northlincs.gov.uk 

The Council is producing a monitoring report for the Local Plan. This document will be published once it has been completed.

The Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015, places a duty on local authorities in England to keep, and have regard to, a register of people and groups interested in self-build and custom-build housing.

The Government wants to enable more people to build or commission their own home. The register will help inform the council about the level of demand for these types of homes in North Lincolnshire. This information may also help us to consider housing and planning policies to assist self-build and custom-build housing projects, and explore options to bring people and plots together. Further information is available on the Government’s planning practice guidance portal.

The register is to express an interest in serviced sites; these are plots of land that have access to a public highway, and connections for electricity, water and waste water.

Registration does not guarantee that a suitable plot will be identified, or become available.

The report considers the extent to which potential development sites that have been identified within North Lincolnshire are at risk of flooding. It informs the process of allocating sites for development through the preparation of the Local Plan.  It should be read alongside the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (below).

The Strategic Housing & Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) is an evidence-based document that identifies land that is suitable and available for housing development in North Lincolnshire. It helps to make sure we have an adequate supply of sites to meet the areas housing needs. The SHELAA also incorporates the Employment Land Review that provides an assessment of employment land in North Lincolnshire and is an evidence base document that will support local employment land policies. The SHELAA can be found in the evidence base.

This Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) 2022 is an update of the original report, which was published in 2011. The main purpose of an SFRA is to provide the information needed for a planning authority to take flood risk into account when making land use allocations and determining planning applications.

The purpose of this update is to ensure the SFRA provides a comprehensive and robust evidence base to inform the preparation and production of the North Lincolnshire Local Plan to 2038 and the future review of the North East Lincolnshire Local Plan.

Since 2011 various new flood risk evidence has become available and National Planning Policy and legislation published. This revised SFRA will be used by both North and North East Lincolnshire Council in decision making and to inform decisions on the location of future development and the preparation of sustainable policies for the long-term management of flood risk taking into account the latest and most up to date information.

It also forms evidence for other important documents such as Sustainability Appraisals of planning policy documents and is the basis from which to apply the Sequential and Exception Tests.

To find out which flood risk zone your site or property is in, the SFRA Mapping can be viewed through our  interactive mapping system

Please contact us for any associated documents of the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment.

The Development and Flood Risk Guidance Note [PDF, 163Kb] was adopted in April 2013. The guidance note provides local advice to developers, applicants and council officers on the application of national planning policy contained within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which aims to avoid inappropriate development in areas of flooding by directing development away from areas at highest risk, but where development is necessary, making it safe without increasing flood risk elsewhere. It is intended to assist in the preparation and determination of planning applications submitted to North Lincolnshire Council.