Land use, development and planning policy research

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Introduction

Research into land use, development and other planning policy issues is carried out by our Strategic and Citywide Policy team.  The purpose of research and monitoring is to inform the planning process and provide a sound factual basis for decision-making, whilst data also contributes to government statistics and maintenance of the National Land Use Database (NLUD).  Every year we produce an Annual Monitoring Report, Residential Development Survey, and Business Development Survey, along with other research required to support planning policy. Much of this work is publicly available and is detailed here. 

For further information please email research.monitoring@bristol.gov.uk.

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Bristol Annual Monitoring Report (AMR)

The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) monitors the Bristol Development Framework (BDF). Local planning authorities were required to prepare an Annual Monitoring Report covering the financial year 2010/11, for submission to Government by 31 December 2011. Once the relevant Localism Act clause comes into effect on 15 January 2012, local planning authorities will no longer have to submit Annual Monitoring Reports, however, the requirement to prepare and publish monitoring reports for the public remains.  

The Bristol Annual Monitoring Report 2011 (pdf, 13.2 MB) provides historical trend analysis, as well as current information.

  • It provides a contextual summary relating to the current social, economic and environmental characteristics of the city (Section 3).
  • It reviews progress in local development document preparation, against the interim timetable milestones, as at March 2011 (Section 4).
  • It assesses the extent to which the policies in the adopted Core Strategy are being implemented and reports on the council’s performance in 2010/11, through the use of indicators (Section 5).

For further information please telephone 0117 903 6796, or email research.monitoring@bristol.gov.uk.

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Five Year Housing Land Supply Report

We are required to assess and demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing development sites on an annual basis:

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Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2009

The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) 2009 forms part of the evidence base to support the delivery of the BDF Core Strategy. 

The SHLAA has been prepared in consultation with stakeholders and aims to identify as many of the potentially developable housing sites in Bristol as possible:

SHLAA Stakeholder Methodology & Technical Assessment 2008 (pdf, 8.5 MB)

Developable sites are those which are considered to be in a suitable location for housing development and have a reasonable prospect of being developed before 2026. 

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Bristol Residential Development Survey (RDS)

The Bristol RDS is an annual monitoring survey providing information about housing development in the city based on planning permissions and site surveys.  The report includes figures for the provision of new housing and net changes in the dwelling stock reaching back to 1996.  The second part of the report contains schedules of all major residential sites developed since 2000, and sites that were in the pipeline at 1 April 2011.

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Employment Land Study

We have undertaken an Employment Land Study (ELS) as a part of the BDF process. The ELS has two main aims:

  1. To identify the city’s employment land requirements for the period 2006-2026 based on an analysis of economic forecasts, recent trends and policy aspirations;
  2. To assess the quality of the city’s main employment areas for continued use and identify potential new land to meet future requirements.

Download the ELS and Annex below.

For further information, please contact the Strategic and Citywide Policy Team on 0117 903 6728.

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Bristol Business Development Survey (BDS)

We conduct an annual Business Development Survey (BDS) in order to keep track of new employment floorspace and the stock of employment land in the city (i.e. offices, industry and warehousing).  In 2007, monitoring was extended to incorporate other types of development including retail, leisure, hotels, residential institutions and non-residential institutions.

Business Development Survey 2011 (pdf, 1.4 MB)

For further information, please contact the Research and Monitoring Group on 0117 903 6727 or email research.monitoring@bristol.gov.uk.

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Bristol Citywide Retail Study

The council commissioned consultants DTZ in 2006 to carry out a Citywide Retail Study. Phase 1 of the study (June 2007) examines the current and future role of retailing in Bristol and forecasts what the future need will be, taking into account issues such as housing growth. Phase 2 (October 2007) presents forecasts of potential new retail capacity across three sub-areas within the city, based on three alternative growth scenarios.

More information is available on our Citywide Retail Study page.

If you have any comments or queries on the study please contact us at research.monitoring@bristol.gov.uk.

External links

Date for review:  16/11/2012 | Short link: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/node/4131
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