Report
Five year housing land supply report
April 1 2025
- This report includes the final completion figures for the year ending 31st March 2025 together with details of all the sites feeding into the supply at 1st April 2025. The results of the Housing Delivery Test were published in December 2024. For the 3-year period 2020/21-2022/23, Wyre Forest delivered 1140 dwellings against a requirement of 615, giving a score of 185%. Wyre Forest District Council continues to apply a 5% buffer to the housing requirement. The calculation shows a housing land supply of 9.28 years as of 1st April 2025. This is slightly lower than that shown a year earlier. A large-scale demolition scheme has reduced the projected completions for 2025/26 quite significantly.
- The Wyre Forest Local Plan was adopted in April 2022 with a housing requirement of 276 dwellings per annum (dpa). The application of a 4% lapse rate is based on a detailed analysis of data since 2002 which looked at both large and small sites. This showed there to be a minimal level of unimplemented planning approvals in the District. Evidence of small windfall completions and prior approval completions also justified the use of a windfall allowance of 72 dpa (from year 4).
- Details of dwellings currently in the housing supply which have come via the prior notification route are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Residential Approvals via Prior Notification in Supply at 1 April 2025 Application number
Address
Parish
Decision Date
Description
Number of dwellings
Progress at 1/4/2025
17/3001/PN
Tower Farm Cottage
Bewdley
10/03/17
Conversion of farm building
1
Under construction
17/3051/PN
Towers Buildings
Kidderminster
16/10/17
Conversion to flats
22
Work stalled
18/3064/PN
Towers Buildings
Kidderminster
27/11/18
Conversion to flats
7
Work stalled
20/0507/PN
Barn at Wells Meadow
Stourport
06/08/20
Conversion to dwelling
1
Under construction
20/0827/PN
Horseley Hills Farm
Wolverley & Cookley
11/01/21
Conversion of farm building
1
Under construction
21/1030/PN
Gorst Hill Farm
Rock
10/01/22
Conversion of farm building
1
22/0345/PN
DCS House Callows Lane
Kidderminster
25/01/23
Office conversion
14
Building SSTC
22/0417/PN
Edge of Heightington
Rock
15/07/22
Barn conversion
1
22/0479/PN
The Malt House Farm
Stone
04/08/22
Barn conversions
3
22/0546/PN
Castle Hill Farm
Wolverley & Cookley
11/11/22
Barn conversion
1
22/0988/PN
The Shortyard
Wolverley & Cookley
13/02/23
Agricultural storage building
1
23/0176/PN
Field House Farm Tenbury Road
Rock
05/05/23
Barn conversion
1
23/0255/PN
Sydwish Widen Top Road
Stourport
31/05/23
Conversion of farm building
1
23/0463/PN
19-22 High St
Kidderminster
11/08/23
Conversion to flats
11
Upper floors former retail
23/0798/PN
11c York Street
Stourport
13/12/23
Conversion to dwelling
1
Former office
24/0007/PN
95A New Road
Kidderminster
5/03/24
Conversion to flats
2
Upper floors already converted
24/0008/PN
109-111 Coventry St (FF)
Kidderminster
1/03/24
Conversion to large flat
1
Shared flat - 4 en-suite bedrooms
24/0546/PN
Drollis Farm Bournes Green
Chaddesley Corbett
3/10/24
Conversion of farm building
1
24/0118/PN
Round Hill Harvington
Chaddesley Corbett
23/4/24
Conversion of farm building
1
24/0162/PN
109-111 Coventry St (GF)
Kidderminster
2/5/24
Conversion to flats
2
Former drug rehabilitation centre
24/0396/PN
95 Stourport Road
Kidderminster
31/7/24
Conversion to dwelling
1
Former hair / beauty salon
24/0398/PN
16 Vicar Street (FF/SF)
Kidderminster
12/8/24
Conversion to flats
3
Upper floors above shops
25/0005/PN
1 Bromsgrove St
Kidderminster
11/2/25
Conversion to flats
2
Under construction
4/0654/PN
Park Attwood Farm
Kidderminster Foreign
20/11/24
Barn conversion
1
Under construction
- In 2024/25 there were 541 completions (538 net of demolitions) giving a total net completion figure for the first 9 years of the plan period of 2726. Based on the Local Plan requirement of 276 dpa this means there has not been any shortfall since April 2016. As of 1st April 2025, there were 457 dwellings under construction (excluding replacement dwellings) with a further 398 dwellings still to start on active sites. Completions in 2024/25 were the highest since the Local Plan was adopted in 2022.
- There were 9 sites with over 40 plots under construction at 1st April 2025. At the former Lea Castle Hospital site to the NE of Kidderminster, 495 dwellings are now complete out of the 600 approved. There are two developers on site - Linden Homes and Bovis.
- In Stourport-on-Severn, 3 brownfield sites continued their redevelopment during 2024/25. Taylor Wimpey are building 94 dwellings on the former Parsons Chain site and 110 dwellings on the former school site off Coniston Crescent. At Parsons Chain there was just one plot unfinished and at the former school site all plots are now started with 78 complete. Barratt Homes are also making good progress on the town centre site of the former Carpets of Worth buildings adjacent to the Tesco Superstore with 96 of the 129 plots completed and only 4 yet to start. In Areley Kings, the first 88 plots on the Barratt/David Wilson Homes development of 329 dwellings were started. Miller Homes also began development of their site for 145 dwellings (mainly in Malvern Hills) with 14 of the 22 within our district underway by the end of March 2025.
- During 2024/25, the final former Green Belt site on Stourport Road started construction where Elan Homes are building 79 homes. The Owl Homes site of 41 dwellings on Habberley Road has all plots started with 28 completed. The larger Persimmon site on Kidderminster Road where 79 dwellings are approved saw 13 completions and only 18 yet to start by the end of March 2024.
- In Kidderminster the site in Churchfields centred around the refurbished 1902 building was finally completed with a total of 246 units. Many of the open market dwellings have been transferred to part buy/part rent. On the NW edge of the town at Low Habberley, Bovis Homes began development of another former Green Belt site for 120 dwellings with the first 10 completed and only 40 yet to start. At Husum Way, 48 dwellings were completed on this 100% affordable site on the eastern edge of Kidderminster. The larger adjoining site at Comberton Road (Kidderminster Eastern Extension) obtained planning approval subject to the signing of a S106 agreement in October 2024 for a total of 1450 dwellings with the first 395 gaining full planning approval. It is hoped that a start can be made on the site later in 2025/26.
- Table 2 shows a summary of completions and commitments at 1st April 2025. Please note that these figures do not include sites approved subject to S106 agreement. Table 3 sets out the calculations for the five-year supply from 2025-2030.
Table 2 Completions and Commitments at 1 April 2025 (net) Description Number of dwellings
Total net completions 1 April 2016-31 March 2025
2726
Units on completed sites (Appendix A)
1944
Units on sites under construction (Appendix B)
782
Total net under construction at 1 April 2025
457
Units on sites under construction (Appendix B)
457
Total net outstanding at 1 April 2025
692
Units on sites under construction (Appendix B)
398
Units on outstanding sites (Appendix C) excluding replacement dwellings/retained dwellings
294
Total commitments at 1 April 2025 (under construction & outstanding)
1149
- The following appendices set out the details of all the sites which feed into this supply. Appendix A lists all those sites which have been completed between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2025 by parish. Appendix B lists all those sites which were under construction at 31st March 2025, including those partially completed. Appendix C lists all those sites at 31st March 2025 which have an extant unimplemented approval including those with prior approval for residential conversion and permission in principle approval. Appendix D lists the sites which had approval subject to the signing of a Section 106 agreement. Appendix E lists other sites which have yet to gain planning approval but are expected to feed into the 5- year supply.
- Appendix F lists the Local Plan allocated sites together with windfall sites by parish with their projected completions by year of Plan period. The blue shaded columns for 2025/26 to 2029/30 show the dwellings expected to feed into the 5-year housing land supply.