Wyre Forest District Council
Authority Monitoring Report 2023/24
Last updated 8 January 2025
1. Introduction
- The Council has a duty to monitor the effectiveness of its planning policies under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, through the production of an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR).
- This AMR monitors the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.
- The AMR should include:
- Progress towards the preparation of documents outlined in the LDS
- Progress towards the delivery of net additional market and affordable dwellings
- Progress towards the delivery of employment land
- Details of any policy documents that have been adopted or approved
- Details of any Local Pan polices not being implemented and the reasons why
- Details of any Neighbourhood Plans that have been ‘made’
2. Local Development Scheme Implementation
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The LDS sets out the timetable to produce all planning policy documents which the Council seeks to produce. This section reviews the Council’s performance against the timetable and milestones outlined in the LDS.
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The Wyre Forest District Council Local Plan was adopted on 26th April 2022.
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The LDS was revised in February 2024. It covers the period 2024-2026 and sets out the timetable for the production of planning policy documents, in particular several new or revised Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) and redrafting of Conservation Area Character Appraisals.
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During 2023/24 a Health and Wellbeing SPD was adopted. This was prepared in partnership with Worcestershire County Council. Work was also undertaken to update and fully revise the Housing SPD and Design, Amenity and Shopfronts SPD during the monitoring year. The LDS timetabled the Housing SPD for adoption in February 2024 but this milestone was missed by 2 months owing mainly to a high volume of consultation responses and committee schedules. The draft was approved by Members for a 6-week consultation in October 2023. The Design, Amenity and Shopfronts SPD was approved for consultation in March 2024 and formally adopted in July 2024. This document replaces both the Design Guidance SPD (2015) and the Shop Front Design Guidance from 2004.
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In June 2023 specialist heritage consultants were appointed to undertake a full review of the existing Conservation Area Character Appraisals which cover the central area of Stourport-on-Severn known as No.1 and No.2. The draft report was taken to Committee in March 2024. Consultation was undertaken in April 2024 and both Conservation Area Character Appraisal documents for areas 1 and 2 were formally adopted in July 2024.
3. Neighbourhood Plans
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There are 5 Neighbourhood Area designations in Wyre Forest for Chaddesley Corbett, Churchill & Blakedown, Bewdley, Upper Arley and Cookley & Caunsall. There are 2 made (adopted) Neighbourhood Plans for Chaddesley Corbett and Churchill & Blakedown. No further progress was made on any Neighbourhood Plans during the monitoring year.
4. Section 106 contributions
- During the monitoring year there were seven S106 agreements signed. Details are shown in the following tables.
Table 1. S106 agreements signed during 2023/24 Application reference
Site location
Development proposed
Date signed
Contribution requested
To be used for
22/0840/FUL
The Grange and land at 164 Sutton Park Road
Kidderminster
Redevelopment for 18 dwellings
13/04/2023
£42,628
2 affordable dwellings for shared ownership’
Health; highways and
public open space at Brinton park
22/0316/FUL
Habberley Road Bewdley
Erection of 41 dwellings
03/07/2023
£74,158
Affordable housing- 6 social rent, 4 shared ownership, education and highways
21/0031/FUL
Pearl Lane Areley Kings
Erection of 329 dwellings
1/11/2023
£3,083,057
Affordable housing- 53 social rent, 29 shared ownership, 8 custom build dwellings, on-site children’s play area, plus contributions for St. Bartholomew Primary, SEND provision, healthcare, sports facilities and community transport
21/0672/FUL
Kidderminster Road Bewdley
Erection of 79 dwellings
4/12/2023
£305,804
Affordable housing – 13 rent, 7 shared ownership, 2 custom build dwellings, contribution for early years and SEND education, extension to bus service and community transport
23/0200/FUL
Habberley Road Kidderminster
Erection of 120 dwellings
4/12/2023
£868,917
Affordable housing - 20 rental, 10 shared ownership, 2 custom build dwellings, community transport, school transport, bus stop improvement, upgrade pedestrian crossing, early years education, SEND provision, health contribution, public open space at Habberley Valley Nature Reserve
22/0464/OUT
Station Drive Blakedown
Erection of up to 51 dwellings
30/01/2024
£163,303
25% affordable housing provision, education contribution for Blakedown Primary and Haybridge High Schools, highways contribution, improvements to level crossing, public open space – improvements to Blakedown Sports and recreation Ground, community transport, school transport
23/0671/FUL
Bewdley Triangle Stourport Road Bewdley
Erection of 79 dwellings
08/02/2024
£42,268
Biodiversity contribution for Burlish Meadows and health contribution
5. Duty to Cooperate
- A number of meetings were held with adjoining authorities during the monitoring year including South Staffordshire. A Statement of Common Ground was signed by Wyre Forest District Council alongside other adjoining local authorities to set out the steps being taken to address unmet housing needs in the wider Greater Birmingham Housing Market Area. Wyre Forest officers continued to attend monthly meetings as a neighbouring authority.
6. Brownfield Land Register
- The Government is committed to maximising the number of new homes built on suitable brownfield land. The Town & Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 makes provision for local planning authorities to prepare, maintain and publish registers of brownfield land. The register should identify previously developed sites which have been assessed as being suitable for housing use. The BLR was first published in December 2017. During the monitoring year 2 sites were end dated (that is removed from the register) as they were being redeveloped.
Table 2 sites removed from the Brownfield Land Register in 2023/24 Site reference
Location
Planning application
Development
Reason for site being end dated
AS/3
Chester Road South Service Station
Redevelopment for housing
Construction well advanced
MI/3
Parsons Chain Stourport
21/1064/FUL
Redevelopment for housing (Taylor Wimpey)
Construction well advanced
7. Custom and Self-Build Register
- The Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act (March 2015) places a duty on local authorities in England to maintain a register of individuals and associations who are interested in finding a serviced plot of land for self-build or custom build homes in their local authority area. The Wyre Forest register opened in April 2016 and a review was carried out in May 2019 to check whether all those on the register wished to remain. There were 22 individuals on the register at the end of October 2023 (the Register monitoring period runs until the end of each October). 18 of these had a local connection. The highest demand was for 3 and 4 bedroom houses. The most popular preferred locations were Wolverley, Bewdley, Blakedown, Far Forest, Cookley, and Chaddesley Corbett.
.
8. Housing delivery
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The housing requirement for Wyre Forest is currently 276 dwellings as required by the Adopted Local Plan (April 2022).
Table 3 Housing Delivery against Housing Requirement Since start of Plan Period Year
Housing Requirement
Housing Delivery
2016/17
189
262
2017/18
201
184
2018/19
246
183
2019/20
227
199
2020/21
154
236
2021/22
227
323
2022/23
276
515
2023/24
276
369
NB figures are net of demolitions. 20/21 housing requirement was reduced to reflect impact of Covid lockdown on housebuilding
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Wyre Forest District Council monitors the number of completed dwellings each year as well as the number of dwelling commitments which feed into the 5-year housing land supply. This monitoring year 2023/24 there were 369 completions (net) with a further 491 (net) dwellings under construction at 31/3/24 and 1041 (net) dwellings not started at 31/3/24 which benefitted from planning permission. The 5-year housing land supply for WFDC at 1st April 2024 was 9.73 years. A total of 4 applications lapsed in the monitoring year relating to 21 dwellings although applications have since been received on 2 of the sites (10 dwellings).
Table 4 Housing Delivery by Parish Parish
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
Total in plan period
Kidderminster
209
93
103
120
129
111
282
114
1161
Stourport
8
28
70
16
19
81
47
119
388
Bewdley
10
21
4
1
6
3
3
6
54
Churchill & Blakedown
3
2
0
5
1
0
0
1
12
Chaddesley Corbett
17
7
1
1
1
2
2
1
32
Kidderminster Foreign
3
4
1
2
0
0
0
7
17
Ribbesford
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
Rock
8
3
1
1
12
7
11
9
52
Rushock
1
0
0
0
3
1
0
0
5
Stone
1
3
4
4
2
1
6
0
21
Upper Arley
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
4
Wolverley & Cookley
11
1
3
46
66
120
171
111
529
All figures are gross completions. Wolverley & Cookley parish includes the site of the former Sion Hill Middle School (57 dwellings), the Miller Homes site at Stourbridge Road (91 dwellings) and Lea Castle Hospital. There has been very little development elsewhere in the parish.
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Historically, WFDC has seen very high figures of housing built on brownfield land. This trend continued during the monitoring year with 95% completed on such sites. The Local Plan also identifies further large sites which are suitable for residential development, many of which are brownfield. The following table shows the split between brownfield and greenfield completions since 2016.
Table 5 Housing Completions with Brownfield/Greenfield split Year
Brownfield dwellings
Greenfield dwellings
Total number of dwellings completed
% brownfield
2016/17
254
17
271
94
2017/18
154
11
165
93
2018/19
182
5
187
97
2019/20
153
48
201
76
2020/21
140
103
243
58
2021/22
297
29
326
91
2022/23
505
16
521
97
2023/24
354
17
371
95
Total
2039
246
2285
88
All figures are gross completions.
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Although house prices in Wyre Forest are lower than for much of Worcestershire, household incomes are also lower. This means that there is a need to provide affordable housing. Policy SP.10 requires the provision of at least 90 units of affordable housing per annum during the plan period.
The following table shows the affordable housing provision split by tenure type.
Table 6 Affordable Housing Completions by Tenure Year
Affordable Rent
Social Rent
Shared Ownership
Discounted Market
Total Affordable
2016/17
100
4
13
0
117
2017/18
8
3
21
0
32
2018/19
14
0
76
0
90
2019/20
15
7
26
6
54
2020/21
61
12
20
0
93
2021/22
88
11
33
0
132
2022/23
151
25
75
0
251
2023/24
56
17
48
0
121
Total
437
62
264
6
769
Table 7 Affordable housing completions in 2023/24 by number of bedrooms and location Location
1 bed flat
1 bed house
2 bed house
3 bed house
4 bed house
Lea Castle Hospital Cookley
9
20
12
Churchfields Kidderminster
6
27
2
Carpets of Worth Stourport
5
13
Tannery Court Stourport
8
4
Parsons Chain Stourport
2
6
2
2
Coniston Crescent Stourport
3
Total
10
9
40
58
4
A number of units which were completed as open market dwellings have since been converted to shared ownership with additional grant funding from Homes England. The majority of these have been on the Churchfields site in Kidderminster. The above tables reflect the tenure at time of completion.
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Policy SP.9: Housing Density and Mix sets out the importance of providing a mix of dwellings sizes and types to meet the local housing need. The Strategic Housing Market Assessment showed that there is an increase in the numbers of households in the district. Much of this growth is due to an increase in single person households. The following table shows the housing mix provided in the district since 2016.
Table 8 Mix of Dwelling Types Completed Year
1-bed house
2-bed house
3-bed house
4-bed house
5-bed house
1-bed flat
2-bed flat
3-bed flat
2016/17
6
20
43
53
13
52
84
0
2017/18
4
45
58
23
7
21
7
0
2018/19
4
37
18
12
5
70
41
0
2019/20
4
41
85
29
4
31
7
0
2020/21
3
55
114
31
7
22
9
2
2021/22
5
76
119
67
1
39
17
2
2022/23
1
112
198
59
1
69
81
0
2023/24
13
88
163
61
0
36
13
1
Total
40
474
798
335
38
340
259
9. Other Development
- For the purposes of the AMR, employment land relates to business, industrial, storage and distribution uses only, as defined by use classes B1, B2 and B8 of the Town & Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987. This was amended in September 2020 and Class B1 no longer exists, instead being considered under Use Class E(g). The following table sets out the amount of land developed since 2016 for employment uses.
Table 9 Hectarage of employment land completed Year
Total B1/2/8 and E(g) Completions in Hectares
2016/17
3.48
2017/18
1.42
2018/19
0
2019/20
0
2020/21
1.51
2021/22
2.5
2022/23
16.42
2023/24
1.73
The figure for 2022/23 includes 16 hectares at Drakelow Tunnels which is mostly used for secure wine storage
Table 10 Non-Residential Sites Completed in 2023/24 Location
Planning Reference
Development
Floorspace sqm
Hurcott Road Kidderminster
21/0927/FUL
Alternative provision primary free school
1236
Safari Park Bewdley
22/0648/FUL
4 lion lodges
240
Bewdley Business Park
21/0232/FUL
Industrial unit
815
Firs Industrial Estate Stourport Road Kidderminster
20/1053/FUL
Warehouse
698
Gemini Business Park Stourport Road Kidderminster
21/0647/FUL
Automotive skills centre
3920
10. Planning appeals
- Planning appeals give a good measure of how well planning policies are performing. There were 20 appeals determined during the monitoring year, 7 were allowed and 13 dismissed. The following table sets out the appeals determined in the monitoring year. It should be noted that the first site falls mainly in Malvern Hills and was allowed because they did not have a 5-year housing land supply.
Table 11 Planning Appeal Decisions 2023/24 Date of decision
Location
Planning reference
Proposal
Decision
9/05/2023
Land off Areley Common,
22/0315/OUT
Erection of up to 145 dwellings
Allowed
12/05/2023
66 Birchfield Rd, Kidderminster
22/0724/HOU
2 storey side extension
Dismissed
26/06/2023
Drakelow Lane Wolverley
Enforcement
Change of use from agricultural land to dog agility training
Dismissed
13/07/2023
Woodpecker Barn Bluntington
Enforcement
Erection of a greenhouse
Dismissed
17/08/2023
Land at Habberley Road Kidderminster
21/0421/OUT
Erection of up to 124 dwellings
Allowed
13/09/2023
Cedar Wood, Lea Lane Cookley
22/0443/OUT
Erection of a dwelling
Dismissed
27/09/2023
7 Mitton Street Stourport
22/0765/FUL
Extension of residential curtilage and relocation of walls to allow accessible access
Dismissed
17/10/2023
Westfield, Ribbesford Rd, Stourport
22/0795/FUL
Change of use from agricultural land erection of outbuildings and swimming pool
Dismissed
30/10/2023
75 Mill Road Stourport
22/0742/OUT
Redevelopment for 4 dwellings
Dismissed
3/11/2023
Land opposite 350 Chester Rd N Kidderminster
23/0001/FUL
Removal of wall/railings an erection of 6 ft fence and gate for foot access
Dismissed
3/11/2023
1 Walnut Grove Stourport
23/0359/HOU
First floor extension over garage
Allowed
24/11/2023
22 Belbroughton Rd Blakedown
23/0388/HOU
Single storey carport
Allowed
8/12/2023
Wharton Park Golf Club, Bewdley
21/0333/FUL
Change of use of land for siting of holiday lodges
Allowed
13/12/2023
12 Francis Rd Stourport
23/0570/HOU
First floor side and rear extension
Dismissed
19/12/2023
Land r/o 40 Wardle Way Wolverley
22/0912/S73
Erection of bungalow without complying with a condition attached to Reserved Matters
Allowed
9/01/2024
Fingerpost Cottage, Far Forest
23/0161/CLP
Proposed concrete slab and erection of triple bay garage
Allowed
9/01/2024
2 Malvern View Chaddesley Corbett
23/0305/FUL
Erection of 1-bed dwelling
Dismissed
11/01/2024
96 Canterbury Rd Kidderminster
22/0953/FUL
Change of use of stores to form 2-bed apartment
Dismissed
13/02/2024
17 Birmingham Rd Kidderminster
22/0836/FUL
Conversion to 6 apartments with car parking
Dismissed
19/02/2024
Northwood Farm Bewdley
23/0456/FUL
Erection of dog breeding building
Dismissed