Monitoring and evidence base

Strategic Housing and economic land availability assessment (SHELAA) and ‘call for sites’

We are currently in the process of developing a New Local Plan. As part of this process, we need to identify a sufficient range of sites to meet housing, employment and other needs over the plan period.

To maintain a clear understanding of land available for development within the Borough we must undertake a Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA).  

A SHELAA is a high-level land assessment which considers whether land is suitable, available and achievable for housing, employment and other uses over the plan period. It does not allocate land for development. 

The SHELAA is also an important source of evidence which feeds into the council’s five-year housing land supply position and brownfield register.    

We are now seeking expressions of interest from agents and developers who wish to contribute to the development of the SHELAA through a small technical working group.

If you wish to opt in and express an interest or are seeking further information, contact the Forward Planning Team via e-mail: forwardplanning@swindon.gov.uk.

Call for sites 

To inform and update the SHELAA, we have issued a new ‘call for sites’ which is open until Friday, 31 March 2023

The Call for Sites is an opportunity for agents, developers and the wider public to suggest sites or broad geographical locations in the Swindon Borough for development, redevelopment or improvement over the next 20 years.  

We are seeking site suggestions for a wide range of land uses including:

  • residential (various types)
  • employment (various types)
  • retail and leisure, for example, shops, restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, supermarkets, cinemas and theatres 
  • healthcare, for example, hospitals, GP clinics, dentists and pharmacies 
  • green infrastructure and open spaces (various types)
  • energy 
  • community, for example, nurseries, schools, colleges, museums, libraries, emergency service stations, places-of-worship and  law courts
  • burial and cremation 
  • minerals
  • waste

Submission requirements

The site size threshold for the Call for Sites is a minimum of 0.15ha (or 5 net dwellings and above) for potential housing sites and a minimum of 0.15ha (or 500m2 of floorspace and above) for employment development.  This should also be used as a guide for other land uses.

Please note: Submitted CFS are not afforded any specific additional weighting as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. Any site submitted will be evaluated as part of the SHELAA process.

Please ensure all fields are completed accurately. We would also encourage the submission of supporting site red line and mapping material in a GIS file format (Shapefile (.shp)) or similar to assist with the quick processing of material.

This can be submitted as part of a new online submission form via the link below.

Alternatively, you can download and complete a spreadsheet excel form and submit it along with a redline plan to forwardplanning@swindon.gov.uk.

Call for sites online submission form

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