The publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024 was accompanied by a new set of Housing Targets for each of England’s unitary, district and borough authorities.
Much has been made of the new targets by rural councils, claiming that these will require large areas of countryside will need to be “concreted over” to deliver the number of homes demanded of them. This is, of course, hyperbolic nonsense: the amount of land required is often a fraction of one percent of the total area of the council areas, even if this assumed that all the new homes were to be built on virgin land. In fact, most of the new homes will come from urban and suburban intensification.
For each authority in England, I’ve created a single map tile which demonstrates how much land would be needed to deliver the local housing targets were they built at a modest density of 40 dwellings per hectare (dph). Clearly in urban areas this figure would be significantly higher, and lower in rural regions; but sticking with a consistent density makes a comparison easier.
Here are all of the authorities in England and the number of new homes required per hectare needed to meet the new targets. As you’d expect, the highest concentration of homes is in London, with the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea topping the league with a requirement to find 20 new homes per hectare (bearing in mind that many parts of outer London are already below this density, even consider existing homes).
