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The Right to Build Task Force has updated its Custom and Self Build Planning Guidance with the publication of its latest note on monitoring and reporting register data.
PG13: Monitoring Custom and Self Build sets out the background behind the need to track and share activity around plot permissioning. The note sets out processes, evidenced from emerging good practice, that will support local authorities as they monitor register applicants and the granting of planning permission for custom and self build homes.
Monitoring and reporting: register data
As a starting point, and as set out by the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015, local authorities should host and update a dedicated web page for custom and self build as part of their main site.
The paper makes a series of recommendations to facilitate the management of the register and make data gathering and evidencing easier, including:
- Maintain a clearly signposted webpage, with a link on the council’s homepage,
- Make the register an automatic e-form for ease of use,
- Councils should promote their registers,
- Use a dedicated Self and Custom Build Monitoring Report,
- Publish data from the council's register on its websites - this should also be summarised on the Council’s Authority Monitoring Report,
- Track when people join and leave registers, including the reason for removal, and
- Publish anonymised data from the register.
Monitoring and reporting: CSB land supply data
The demand evidenced by the registers should then be met by local authorities granting planning permission for enough serviced plots to meet the demand, as set out by the legislation. This naturally needs monitoring to track progress.
PG13 sets out a range of recommendations for how a local authority might decide if a permission is for a self or custom build home. However, authorities must be satisfied that the development permissions that it is counting do indeed meet the legislative requirements. This process can be complex, so councils must evidence their process accordingly.
To support the evidencing process, PG13 includes a useful template for monitoring activity, which links to a simple Excel sheet that authorities can use to tailor their own tracking activities.
Read PG13: Monitoring Custom and Self Build