Local plan review and five year housing land supply
The supply argument is won on the council's own published evidence. Here is where the monitoring report, the delivery test result and the tilted balance meet.
A five year housing land supply check starts with the council's own published evidence, not with an assumption. Three documents carry it: the authority monitoring report, the council's most recent statement of housing land supply, and the government's annual Housing Delivery Test measurement. Read together they tell you whether the plan's housing policies can still be treated as up to date, and therefore whether the presumption in favour of sustainable development is engaged on your site.
Consultants get this wrong in one direction more than the other. They assert a shortfall the council has not conceded, and the officer report answers it in a paragraph.
Where councils publish supply and monitoring evidence
Regulation 34 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 requires a local planning authority to publish a monitoring report at least annually, covering progress against the local development scheme and the extent to which policies are being achieved. Most councils publish it as an authority monitoring report, sometimes as an annual monitoring report, on the planning policy pages rather than the development management pages.
Alongside it, most authorities publish a separate housing land supply statement with a base date, a trajectory and a site-by-site schedule. Some publish an annual position statement agreed with developers. A few publish nothing beyond the monitoring report, in which case the supply position has to be reconstructed from the trajectory and from recent appeal decisions.
The plan itself has a review obligation. Policies must be reviewed at least once every five years from adoption and updated as necessary, which is why the adoption date on the front of the local plan is the first thing to check on any site.
Reading the monitoring report
Work through it in this order:
- The base date. Supply figures are almost always a year or more behind, so establish what the figures actually describe.
- The requirement. Identify whether the council is using the adopted plan's annual requirement or the standard method figure, and on what basis.
- Completions against requirement, cumulatively since the start of the plan period, which shows whether a backlog exists.
- The deliverable supply, and how each large site is justified as deliverable rather than merely developable.
- The lapse rate and any windfall allowance, both of which are assumptions rather than sites.
- The buffer applied, and the method used to deal with any shortfall.
The site schedule repays the most attention. A supply that leans on three strategic allocations with no reserved matters, no infrastructure agreement and an optimistic first completion date is a supply with a soft centre. That is an evidenced argument, and it is the kind an inspector engages with.
The Housing Delivery Test
The Housing Delivery Test measures net homes delivered against the number required over the previous three years, and the result is published annually by the government. The consequences are set out in national guidance: below 95 per cent the authority must produce an action plan, below 85 per cent it must add a buffer to its supply, and below 75 per cent the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies to decisions on housing applications.
Those thresholds have been stable, but the measurement rule book and the way the requirement is calculated have been adjusted more than once, so check the current guidance and the latest published measurement before relying on a figure. Publication has also slipped in some years, which leaves an out-of-date result in force in the meantime.
The Test is a blunt instrument and it says nothing about why delivery fell short. That does not stop it being decisive, because the consequence follows automatically from the number.
When the tilted balance engages
The presumption in favour of sustainable development, generally called the tilted balance, applies to decisions where the policies most important for determining the application are out of date. National policy treats housing policies as out of date where the authority cannot demonstrate the required supply of deliverable sites or where the Housing Delivery Test result falls below the relevant threshold.
Engagement is not the end of the argument. The presumption is disapplied where policies in the Framework that protect areas or assets of particular importance provide a clear reason for refusing, which covers habitats sites, designated heritage assets, Green Belt, National Landscapes and land at risk of flooding among others. And even where it applies, permission follows only where any adverse impacts would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.
The August 2026 Framework reorganised the document around policy codes rather than paragraph numbers, and the tilted balance provisions moved with it. Quote the current code from the published Framework, and say which edition you are citing, because a decision maker holding a different edition will otherwise be reading a different document.
Testing a council's supply position without inventing figures
The temptation is to model the supply yourself and present the result as fact. Resist it. What carries weight is a documented critique of the council's own figures.
Take each large site in the schedule and check the planning register for the current permission status, the reserved matters position and the discharge of pre-commencement conditions. Check whether an outline permission is close to expiry. Look for sites counted as deliverable that have been counted as deliverable in three successive monitoring reports without a start on site. Read recent appeal decisions in the district, because inspectors' findings on supply are published and are the closest thing to an independent view available.
Then state the conclusion as an argument rather than an arithmetic certainty: on the council's own published evidence, the supply relies on X, and the deliverability of X is not demonstrated. Never invent a headline figure. Where a number cannot be sourced from the council's own documents or a published decision, describe the effect without one.
Framing the balance in the planning statement
The planning statement should deal with this in a defined sequence, because officers and inspectors read it in that sequence.
Start with the statutory duty: the determination has to be made in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Then identify the policies most important for determining the application and assess whether they are out of date, on supply, on the delivery test, or on the age and consistency of the policies themselves. Then apply the presumption if it is engaged, and set out the benefits and adverse impacts with the weight you say each deserves and why. Where the site carries a constraint such as Green Belt, deal with the Green Belt tests separately, because they can remove the presumption entirely.
Finish with the practical points. Say what happens if members disagree with the officer's supply position, because a contentious application on a supply argument is more likely to be decided at committee than under delegated powers, and members respond to different material from inspectors.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Draft the policy sections of your planning statement in minutes, then check them against the council's published evidence. See PlanScope pricing. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Where does a council publish its housing land supply position?
Usually in an authority monitoring report published under regulation 34 of the Local Planning Regulations 2012, and often in a separate housing land supply statement with a base date, a trajectory and a site schedule. Both sit on the planning policy pages rather than with development management. Some councils also publish an annual position statement agreed with the development industry.
What are the Housing Delivery Test consequences?
National guidance sets three thresholds: an action plan below 95 per cent, a buffer added to the supply below 85 per cent, and the presumption in favour of sustainable development applying to housing decisions below 75 per cent. The measurement rule book has been adjusted more than once, so check the current guidance and the latest published result.
Does a supply shortfall mean permission will be granted?
No. The presumption is disapplied where Framework policies protecting particular areas or assets provide a clear reason for refusal, which covers habitats sites, designated heritage assets, Green Belt, National Landscapes and land at flood risk. Where it does apply, permission follows only where adverse impacts would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.
How often must a local plan be reviewed?
Policies must be reviewed at least once every five years from adoption and updated where necessary. The adoption date on the front of the plan is therefore the first thing to check on any site, because an unreviewed plan approaching or beyond that point invites an argument about the weight its housing policies should carry.
Can I calculate the supply myself and present it as fact?
Presenting your own model as a settled figure rarely persuades. What carries weight is a documented critique of the council's published schedule: permissions close to expiry, sites counted as deliverable across successive monitoring reports with no start, and inspectors' findings in recent appeal decisions in the same district.
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.