Strategic housing and economic land availability assessment
The new local plan will eventually set out the location of future development in the District, as part of the process we update our evidence on housing and employment land availability annually through the SHELAA. The aim of this exercise is to have a clear understanding of land which is available throughout the District and to identify as many sites as possible that have housing and employment potential in the area.
Every year we invite any interested parties, Parishes, individuals, landowners and developers to inform us of sites within the District that they consider suitable to be assessed to accommodate future housing and employment as part of the SHELAA.
Call for sites 2025
We are now accepting sites to be assessed as part of the next year's SHELAA. The call for sites closes on 31 March each year. Any applications after this date will be considered in the following year's SHELAA. An email reminder will be sent out early February. To be included on this circulation list please email: localplans@fdean.gov.uk.
The Council invites submissions from organisations and the general public to identify land which may be suitable for accommodating housing development in the future, in their annual call for sites. We are also interested in land which may be suitable for employment areas, or a combination of both employment and housing.
The SHLAA process is complementary to the plan making process and the allocation of sites. Its purpose is to provide a future reserve of sites that can be considered for allocation in order to deliver new dwellings in the next plan review. A minimum size threshold of 0.2ha or larger is required for a site to be considered through the process. Smaller sites are generally not considered for plan allocations.
Each year the SHELAA builds on previous assessments of land availability in the Forest of Dean District. The yearly reports are published below. If you have previously submitted a site(s) you will not be required to re-submit, unless you wish to make changes to the site or remove it from the study, as past sites will be carried forward.
If you wish to put forward any potential housing or employment sites for consideration, please either:
- Complete the online SHELAA form or
- Download the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment Form and return it to: Local Plans, Forest of Dean District Council, Council Offices, High Street, Coleford, GL16 8HG Email: localplans@fdean.gov.uk Please include a map showing the site boundary ideally at a scale of 1:1250
This assessment provides an important source of evidence for the council, but it is important to note that any assessment undertaken by the Council at this stage does not allocate the sites to be developed nor guarantee a site will be allocated in the future. The allocation of sites for future housing or employment development will be determined through the Forest of Dean Local Plan or neighbourhood plans.
For information about the methodology for the SHLAA please read the methodology document:
Land availability assessments
The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment reports from 2008 to 2024 are available to download below.
The SHLAA report considers the development potential of a range of different sites across the District for housing and employment. This will include sites that are already known to the Council, additional sites that are submitted to the Council and sites identified by the Council itself.
We are in the process of switching the SHLAA mapping to a new system. 2021 and 2022 sites can be accessed through their respective reports while 2020 sites and older can be accessed through the 2020 report. Eventually all sites will be viewable through the new system