Finding housing land supply and delivery test figures
The five year supply position and the Housing Delivery Test result decide whether the presumption applies. Here is where each is published and how to check it.
Two numbers decide whether the presumption in favour of sustainable development is engaged on a housing appeal: the authority's five year housing land supply position, and its result in the national Housing Delivery Test. Both are published, both have a date attached, and both are contestable. Finding them takes about twenty minutes if you know where to look, and quoting them accurately is what separates a statement that survives cross-examination from one that gets picked apart.
The supply figure is produced by the local planning authority. The delivery measurement is produced centrally by government. They measure different things, which is why a council can pass one and fail the other.
Where the authority publishes its supply position
Start with the authority monitoring report, which councils prepare under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. It is normally published in the autumn for the year ending 31 March, and it carries completions, commitments and the trajectory.
Then look for a separate housing land supply position statement or five year supply statement. Councils under pressure publish these more often than annually, sometimes alongside a cabinet report, and they are usually filed under planning policy rather than development management. Where a local plan is at examination, the most current figures often sit in the examination library instead, in a topic paper or a statement of common ground with developers.
Three documents therefore need checking, and they will not agree with each other:
- The adopted local plan requirement, which may be years out of date.
- The latest monitoring report, giving completions against that requirement.
- The most recent supply statement, giving the council's own view of its current position.
Where a council has gone quiet, the absence of a recent statement is itself worth noting. An authority that has not published a supply position since a base date two years ago is not in a strong position to assert one at appeal.
Reading the base date and the deliverability evidence
Every supply figure is anchored to a base date, and the figure is meaningless without it. A five year supply calculated from 1 April runs to 31 March five years later, and a site with permission granted in June does not belong in it.
The supply itself is a list of sites the council says are deliverable. The Framework's glossary definition matters here, and it distinguishes between sites with detailed permission, which are presumed deliverable unless there is clear evidence otherwise, and other categories such as outline permissions and allocations, which need clear evidence that homes will be delivered within five years. That evidence is meant to be site specific. Developer questionnaires, signed statements of intent and dates for reserved matters submissions are the currency.
Read the schedule line by line for the usual weak points. Large sites with a single outlet assumed to deliver 80 homes a year. Sites with no housebuilder involved. Allocations still awaiting an access agreement with the highway authority. Sites carrying a nutrient neutrality or water neutrality constraint that has no agreed mitigation. Each one is a deduction you can argue for, and the effect compounds because removing sites reduces the numerator while the requirement stays fixed.
The national delivery measurement and its consequences
The Housing Delivery Test compares homes delivered over the previous three years against homes required over the same period, and the result is published as a percentage for every authority in England. The measurement is published by government and comes with a rule book explaining the inputs.
The published consequences have historically run in three bands. Below 95 per cent the authority must produce an action plan. Below 85 per cent it must add a buffer to its supply requirement. Below 75 per cent the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies to decisions on housing applications. The buffer arithmetic and the precise trigger points have been revised between Framework editions, so check the current text rather than reciting the version you learned. The Framework was reissued in December 2024 and again on 17 August 2026, and the chapter structure changed with it.
The timing of publication matters as much as the result. A measurement published in December applies from the day it is published, and an appeal decided the week before will have proceeded on the old figure.
Buffers and how they change the requirement
A buffer is applied to the requirement, not to the supply, and it is brought forward from later in the plan period rather than added to the total. That sounds academic until you run the numbers. On a requirement of 500 homes a year, five years is 2,500. A 20 per cent buffer makes it 3,000. An authority with 2,700 deliverable homes moves from 5.4 years to 4.5 years without a single site changing.
Where the plan is more than five years old and the housing requirement has not been reviewed, the local housing need figure calculated by the standard method usually takes over as the requirement. That substitution is frequently the decisive step in an appeal, and it is worth checking whether the council has quietly continued to use its adopted figure past the review date.
Challenging a supply figure at appeal
Supply is a matter of planning judgement for the decision maker, and inspectors decide it on the evidence in front of them. A challenge that works is built site by site rather than asserted in the round.
Set out the council's schedule as a table, add a column for your position on each disputed site, and give a reason grounded in something external: a planning history showing no reserved matters, a condition not yet discharged, a public statement about a stalled scheme, correspondence with the site promoter. Inspectors discount unsupported assertions from both sides, and the party that has actually contacted the site owners tends to win the point.
Keep the arithmetic transparent. Show the requirement, the buffer, any shortfall and the method used to address it, the deductions claimed and the resulting years of supply. Present the council's case and yours in the same table so the inspector can see exactly where the difference lies.
Citing the figures accurately in a statement
Housing supply paragraphs fail on precision more often than on argument. Give the base date of every figure, the document it comes from and the date of that document. Say which edition of the Framework you are applying, because the presumption and its exceptions have been renumbered. Where a figure is disputed, say so in the same sentence rather than presenting it as agreed.
Avoid carrying figures forward between projects. A supply position from six months ago on a neighbouring site is not evidence for this one, and an inspector who spots a stale base date will treat the rest of the statement with the same caution. The same discipline applies to the site-specific evidence that sits alongside it, whether that is a constraints layer or a trip rate, as covered in building a constraints plan before the design starts and trip rate evidence for a transport statement.
A worked illustration, presented as illustrative only: an authority with an adopted requirement of 420 homes a year, a Housing Delivery Test result of 71 per cent, a 20 per cent buffer and a three-year shortfall of 300 homes addressed over five years. The requirement becomes 420 multiplied by five, plus the 300 shortfall, plus the buffer applied to that total. Set the council's claimed deliverable supply against it and the years of supply falls out of the division. Show every step.
Where the policy case sits in a Planning Statement, keep the supply analysis in its own section with the tables attached as an appendix, so the numbers can be updated without rewriting the argument. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
Where do councils publish their five year housing land supply figure?
Usually in the authority monitoring report published under the 2012 Local Planning Regulations, and in a separate housing land supply position statement. Where a local plan is at examination, the current figures often appear in the examination library instead, in a topic paper or a statement of common ground. Check all three, because they rarely agree.
What is the base date and why does it matter?
The base date is the day the supply was counted from, normally 1 April. Every completion, permission and deduction in the schedule is measured from it, so a figure quoted without its base date cannot be checked. Permissions granted after the base date do not belong in that year's supply, and a stale base date weakens the council's position at appeal.
What does the Housing Delivery Test measure?
It compares homes delivered in an authority over the previous three years against homes required over the same period, expressed as a percentage. Government publishes the result for every English authority along with the rule book setting out the inputs. It measures past delivery, which is why an authority can pass the test while failing to demonstrate a five year forward supply.
How is a buffer applied to the housing requirement?
The buffer is added to the five year requirement and brought forward from later in the plan period, rather than added to the overall plan total. Applying it raises the number of homes the council must show as deliverable, so the years of supply falls even when the site schedule is unchanged. The trigger points have changed between Framework editions.
Can a supply figure be challenged at appeal?
Yes. Supply is a matter of judgement for the inspector on the evidence presented. Challenges succeed when they work through the council's site schedule and give a documented reason for each deduction, such as an undischarged condition, an absent housebuilder or unresolved nutrient neutrality mitigation. Assertions without supporting evidence are discounted on both sides.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.