Monitoring and reporting

It is important that monitoring takes place to ensure our planning policies are being implemented effectively and are having the desired effects but also to help us determine whether policies need to be amended in future reviews of development plans or new policies need to be created. Reporting the results of our monitoring activity provides transparency for residents and the development sector and ensures the Council is meeting its obligations set out in national planning legislation and policy.

Current monitoring and reporting includes:

Authority Monitoring Reports

The council's Development Plan Documents include indicators that allow us to measure whether policies are being successfully implemented. The findings from these indicators and related analysis are set out in a document called an Authority Monitoring Report. These are produced annually to cover the previous monitoring year, which runs from 1 April to 30 March.

Find out about Authority Monitoring Reports.

Housing delivery

The Government has set out ambitious targets for housebuilding and has established a Housing Delivery Test to monitor this. The test looks at how much housing has been delivered over a three-year period in each local authority area and compares it to that area’s housing target for the same period to generate a delivery percentage. Local authorities are then required to take specific actions if delivery falls below a certain percentage threshold.

Find out about Southampton's Housing Delivery Test result and actions.

Housing and supply

The Government requires all local authorities to demonstrate a clear supply of land for new housing to ensure that progress against housebuilding targets continues to be met. The supply of housing can come from various sources including planning permissions, sites allocated in development plans, and an allowance for speculative development known as a ‘windfall allowance’. The Government expects local authorities to have a housing land supply to cover at least five years into the future.

Find out about Southampton's housing land supply.