Scarborough Borough Council’s local plan had outlined proposals to build 9,680 homes and create 5,000 new jobs up to 2032.
However, inspector William Fieldhouse, in his report on the plan, recommends that this be reduced to 9,450 dwellings "to take account of" the government’s 2014-based household projections. Fieldhouse found the plan sound subject to a series of modifications.
According to his report, the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG’s) 2012-based household projections indicated an average increase of 175 households per year in the borough over the plan period.
However, the DCLG’s 2014-based household projections, published last July during the plan examination, showed a lower growth rate of 131 households per year.
Because of the job growth target and resulting inward migration, the plan had aimed to build an average of 461 new homes per year. However, the 2014-based projections produce a lower figure of 450 net additional homes per year, the report says.
Fielding states: "Delivering 9,450 new homes over the period 2011 to 2032 would represent a substantial increase compared to build rates over the last decade.
"Achieving the proposed delivery rates would represent a very significant boost to supply in the borough and this would be likely to have beneficial effects in terms of house prices and affordability."
The inspector also recommended that the plan identifies enough land to accommodate 10,633 new homes during the plan period, representing a surplus of 12.5 per cent over the 9,450-home housing target.
Fielding went on to say that the 5,000 job target was "aspirational but realistic and represents a sound basis for land use planning in the context of national policy".
To accommodate the new jobs, the plan allocates 34.5 hectares of additional employment land over the plan period.
The document covers the parts of the borough outside the North York Moors National Park. It distributes about three-quarters of new homes to Scarborough, about 10 per cent to Whitby and five per cent to the town of Filey.
The new local plan supersedes the Scarborough Borough Local Plan adopted in 1999.
