Policy SAN5: Site Allocations

The SNP allocates two development sites within this policy.  land south of Main Road and land north of Main Road being included, a total of up to 108 homes.

SPC has been mindful of the intention of the local planning authority, New Forest District Council (NFDC) to review its adopted Local Plan. The timescales for the emerging Local Plan over the coming two- three years enables the SNP to take responsibility for planning to meet local housing need in the Parish for the plan period rather than that being left to the new Local Plan. 

Whilst NPPF paragraph §70 requires the Local Planning Authority to provide an indicative figure for housing requirement over the proposed plan period, this is not currently available and NFDC officers confirmed in April that any indicative figure would be unlikely in 2025 until the emerging Local Plan has progressed further. The Neighbourhood Planning Practice Guidance (§105 ID: 41-105-20190509) notes that if this is the case the then the neighbourhood planning body may determine a housing requirement figure themselves, taking account of relevant policies, the existing and emerging spatial strategy, and characteristics of the neighbourhood area.  As such, using the December 2024 PPG methodology, an indicative minimum requirement for Sandleheath is calculated as 85 dwellings over a 20-year plan period (equating to 4.23 dwellings per annum). This figure takes account of the position of the parish in the settlement hierarchy (Local Plan Policy STR4), the quantum of housing to come forward through Neighbourhood Plans  (Local Plan Policy STR5) and the desire to bring forward community benefits and affordable housing. The figure does not take into account any recent completions/planning permissions to date which may be included as is understood that there are no outstanding permissions.

Full details supporting the inclusion of these sites can be found in the Site Assessment report accompanying the plan. In summary, following a local Call for Sites in late 2024, initial screening and community engagement and an initial consideration of reasonable alternatives for the SEA, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. Future development of the parish should follow the existing spatial pattern, i.e directly accessed from the Main (Station) Road, rather than side roads.
2. It is important to keep a measure of separation from Ashford and Fordingbridge and so a Local Gap should be maintained wherever possible.
3. The one site within the existing settlement boundary should be discounted as by definition it is deemed acceptable and in total would likely only bring forward around 5 dwellings.  It would therefore be counted as windfall, as given its size it would be unlikely to provide the community benefits sought.
4. With no indicative housing number offered by NFDC, the Steering Group wished to seek a growth option for the community which respects the position of Sandleheath in the settlement hierarchy but brings forward sufficient growth to ensure the sustainability of the parish to at least 2050.
5. In addition, with no housing number tabled, the Steering Group wished to demonstrate that the Neighbourhood Plan could achieve a suitable and sustainable level of growth for the parish. As such it has used the PPG standard method calculation as a starting point to enable the community, through the SNP to control the future growth of the parish and not defer to the Local Plan process which has no firm adoption date. The NP process also provides an ability for the parish to use policy levers to impose the requirement for the very specific community benefits sought through development at a local level, unlikely to be achieved through a Local Plan allocation.

It is noted that NFDC carried out two Call for Sites between October and December 2024 and February to April 2025. It was confirmed that no other potential sites for Sandleheath came forward as a result of this process, enabling the Neighbourhood Plan to have a complete picture of planned growth options for the parish. 

Using points 1 – 5 above, three plausible growth options were considered, 1) growth to the south of the Main Road, 2) growth to the north of Main Road and 3) growth both south and north of the Main Road. 

Initial engagement was carried out with the landowners of the sites which ranked 1 (site 2 – south of Main Road) and 2 (site 5 – north of Main Road) in the community survey to discuss the potential opportunities and constraints of their respective locations. These sites would together bring forward around 108 dwellings if the full extent of each location was delivered. This represents what is felt to be the upper limit to ensure that the overall growth in the village is not considered excessive and still considered in keeping with its status in the settlement hierarchy and provides the maximum community benefits to safeguard the future sustainability of the community and provide opportunities to improve local active travel options and social infrastructure. The Steering Group recognises that the neighbourhood plan is having to make hard decisions around the development of the parish over the coming years but on balance feel it is better to control their own destiny where they can, rather than putting the policy decisions about future growth of the parish to the District Council or, an as yet unknown unitary authority or leaving the parish open to speculative development. In setting out clearly the future of the parish through the SNP and meeting its identified need (defined as the standard method calculation with no alternative figure put forward) the community are taking a proactive and pragmatic approach to plan for and shape their own future. This policy enables the SNP to fill the policy void and engage §14 of the NPPF to enable the parish defend applications for unplanned development, particularly in view of the lack of five-year land supply in the New Forest and the position of the Local Plan which is considered out of date in July 2025.  

The Steering Group have worked positively and collaboratively to negotiate the community benefits set out in the policy and brings forward development which respects the countryside setting of the parish and its historic core but provides better public access to open spaces, improved access to leisure and functional walking routes, community facilities in the form of car parking for the village hall and flexible use leisure facilities. The two sites will each provide opportunities for affordable homes, starter homes and appropriately sized homes for downsizers and are both located in the eastern side of the village, towards Fordingbridge, which is considered the more sustainable part of the parish. 

Land north of Main Road – With site 5 and site 8 (which ranked 4^th) being in the same ownership, the Steering Group asked the landowner if they would be willing to include site 8 within the site 5 proposal, designated as a community use site (with no residential development). This was verbally agreed with an offer to lease site 8 to the parish council for 100 years for a peppercorn rent for community use as part of any development of site 5. This would enable a car park for the village hall to be created less than 100m away on the same side of the road and provide much needed space for recreational and community uses. For the purposes of clarity these two sites are now consolidated into a single site, referred to in the policy and on the policies map as Land north of Main Road.

Land South of Main Road. (Site 2) – At this location, the Parish Council discussed with the landowner the desire to secure open space to serve a number of purposes. With the requirement for ARNG on site the Parish Council have expressed interest, subject to negotiation with the landowner and NFDC for this land to be transferred directly to the parish council, along with provision for future maintenance and management. The ARNG will not only serve as recreational space to wrap around the southern end of the site and create dog walking and exercise opportunities but will ensure a strong defensible boundary between the site and the open countryside beyond and minimal impact when viewed from the Cranborne Chase National Landscape to the southwest of the site. The second areas of open space are two parcels at the northern end of the site near the entrance, which will provide extended facilities for both the village hall and wider community in the form of recreational space, including a timber framed “pavilion” an open fronted structure which would provide seating and shade for those enjoying the open space, provide a covered area for local pop up events or for use as an outdoor classroom/meeting  space. The provision of these spaces at the entrance to the site ensures the development reflects the overall layout of the village, which is discretely set back from the Main Road with pockets of green space fronting the road, as seen along the common by the village shop and to the front of Elm Close. 

Given their size, each site is also above the threshold for the provision of affordable housing. To date there is not a single affordable house in the village for either social or affordable rent or ownership options including shared ownership, so these sites provide the opportunity for local people to have a wider choice of housing options and enabling those who wish to move to Sandleheath, including families where children have previously moved away due to the cost of housing within the parish, to have the opportunity to come back. Located on the Main Road to the western side of the parish, whilst there is currently no bus service into Fordingbridge (which it is hoped can be addressed through additional demand and funding opportunities from CIL) , the school bus to Burgates does stop close to both sites. 

The SEA process was informed of the on-going work and the development of the pre-submission plan to enable a further assessment of the preferred growth strategy, which has developed as option 3. This represents an overall higher growth strategy for the parish but takes into account environment constraints, community opinion and a level of growth considered to be sustainable for a parish which currently has limited social and active travel infrastructure (which is sought to be improve through the inclusion of these sites) and in keeping with the settlement hierarchy designation of the parish. It is noted that whilst site 2 is promoting a quantum slightly in excess of the number defined as suitable in the Local Plan (i.e medium up to 49 homes per site) the overall scale, design and location are not out of keeping with the village setting. 

The draft SEA is tabled for the Regulation 14.