Land in Three Rivers

Housing and the local plan

In the government’s Housing Delivery Test 2025, Three Rivers built 47% of the homes it needed over three years: presumption in favour.

The council delivered under 75% of the homes it needed, so national policy's presumption in favour of sustainable development (the "tilted balance") applies to housing applications: permission should be granted unless the harm would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, or protective policies such as Green Belt, National Landscapes or flood risk give a clear reason to refuse.

Its adopted local plan is the Core Strategy Development Plan Document, adopted October 2011 (15 years ago; plans are meant to be reviewed at least every five years).

A new plan, the Three Rivers New Local Plan, is at early consultation (Regulation 18).

From MHCLG’s Housing Delivery Test and the Planning Data platform’s local plan records, which some councils haven’t kept up to date. Whether the tilted balance applies to a scheme also depends on the council’s five-year land supply and the site itself: get planning advice.

Planning constraints

Of the 1,834 outlines of an acre or more, 1,381 (75%) are mostly in Green Belt. 183 (10%) are partly in flood zone 3, the highest risk.

From the government’s Planning Data platform. Check any site with Planning check.

Farmland quality

1% of the graded farmland outlines of an acre or more are grade 1 or 2, the best and most versatile land.

• Grade 215
• Grade 31,107
• Grade 428
• Non-agricultural191
• Urban493

Natural England’s provisional grades at the centre of each outline. A broad-scale map, so a field survey is needed for any one site.

Electricity network

215 outlines of an acre or more are within 1 km of a primary or grid substation. The network operator’s published figures show no spare demand capacity at its substations here.

The best 2 km square for a data centre scores 41 out of 100. Data centre site search →