 In 2025, we ran a Local Plan Call for Sites for 6 weeks from 13 January to 24 February. Following this, we assessed the sites received, alongside other sources of sites. These are contained in the Interim HELAA Report (2026).
The HELAA is a high-level technical study which considers the potential suitability, availability and achievability of identified sites for future residential, economic or renewable energy development. The HELAA forms the initial stage of the site assessment process and provides evidence to support the preparation of our new Local Plan. Read the report and find out more about:
- what the HELAA is, why we do it, its role and status, and how it links with other parts of the planning process;
- the methodology used; and
- assessment outcomes.
The HELAA process sits as a first stage in the wider Local Plan site selection process. It does not allocate sites or grant them planning permission or planning status of any kind.
It is a ‘policy off’ assessment, which means it considers some high-level constraints but does not consider adopted plan policy constraints at this stage.
Given its high-level nature and ‘policy off’ approach, the report is deliberately badged as an ‘Initial HELAA Report’. No sites are labelled as conclusively ‘suitable’, and the best a site can come out as is:
- ‘potentially suitable’;
- ‘available’; and
- ‘achievable’.
 If you’re a landowner, site promoter or developer and missed the chance to submit your site in 2025, we’ve now reopened the Call for Sites so additional sites can be considered.
The portal for submitting sites will remain open on a rolling basis until further notice. However, it’s likely that we’ll close it again in the lead-up to the next consultation on the Local Plan in 2027.
Sites submitted during this period will be assessed and reported on as part of the next version of the HELAA Report.
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