04 / LOCAL EVIDENCE
Councils under pressure
“No local plan”, “an old plan” and “less than five years of deliverable land” mean different things. Here are documented examples, with their dates.
Castle Point
The council’s 2024–25 monitoring report calculates 1,256 homes identified for 2025–30 against a five-year requirement of 3,430 plus a 20% buffer, producing 0.91 years on its stated method. The existing Local Plan dates from 1998; a replacement was submitted for examination in January 2026, not yet an adopted replacement at this snapshot.
Council monitoring report ↗ Plan progress ↗Three Rivers
Its April 2026 update reports 1,184 deliverable homes against a five-year requirement of 4,992 including buffer. The council says its Local Plan is over five years old and has not been reviewed; its Core Strategy was adopted in 2011, with a new plan in preparation.
Council land supply update ↗ Adopted plan ↗WHAT IS “WORST”?
Use a defined yardstick.
A land supply figure is a forward-looking estimate, not a league table of council competence. The Housing Delivery Test is a different, retrospective three-year ratio of homes delivered to requirement. The latest 2025 measurement, published 17 August 2026, covers 2022/23–2024/25. It can be recalculated after a new requirement is adopted. 2025 HDT results ↗
For a current, nationally defined planning decision quality measure, see the ten councils designated for major applications on the appeals page. That is a specific measure of overturned decisions, not a verdict on every aspect of their housing performance.
Five-year supply estimates have different base dates and may be challenged at appeal. Compare the underlying requirement, buffer and deliverable-site evidence before drawing conclusions.