The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is going to have a seismic impact on the land market. In order to make the most out of the changes and to make sure you are best positioned, whatever your land portfolio, it is important to get into the details.
This is exactly what we have done here at Landstack, starting with what we believe is the most impactful of all the changes — the new housing targets and standard method.
Our research shows that, when applying the new standard method to authorities’ existing five-year housing supply, the average change is a reduction of 1.9 years of supply.
Couple this with the fact that, pre-December NPPF, the average five-year land supply for authorities in England was 5.9 years and you can see the impact this could have — 83% of authorities will be failing their five-year supply.
Our forecast is a heavy return to planning by appeal and a requirement to act fast to get sites included in hastily organised plans.
With these challenges in mind, how do developers find land in this fast-changing environment?
Let’s dive into how to find development land in 2025.
When the new targets will apply and how to make the most of them
Looking at the numbers, it can seem like housing armageddon is on the horizon. After all, with such huge changes to each authority’s housing requirement and not enough allocated land, surely the land needs to be made available straight away?
As always, it is not that simple.
The targets do not come into effect straight away, instead, the government have given clear direction as to when targets apply and in practice this will vary massively. For some local authorities, new housing targets could come into effect this March, for others you could need to wait years.
Here are the key dates to consider:
1: For immediate land
For authorities that have no adopted plan you need to look straight away, or, for authorities that have an adopted plan July 2026. July 2026 is important because this is when the new housing numbers come into effect for planning application decision-making on adopted plans.
2: For strategic land
When the new housing numbers come into effect for plan making. This is dependent on the local plan, which we have broken down in detail below.
Our advice is this: All local authorities will eventually build a plan under the new housing numbers but there are some areas where immediate action might be required, so look at these with priority for both strategic and immediate land. Knowing how to find development land and when to act on it can help you stay ahead.
Understanding when numbers will come into force and for which local authorities will be key to making the most out of the transition.
Take a look at the flowchart we have put together below:
Local plans position and when it will apply.
Thinking in ‘Buckets’ – an easy way to understand the rules
I know what you are thinking, “Bloody hell, how can this guy make a flow chart look this complicated?” Well, I can’t disagree. So instead I propose that it’s best to think in “buckets”.
There are 5 buckets that each local authority can fall into:
Bucket 1 – No draft local plan and adopted plan (older than 5 years)
Look at these authorities straight away. Any new local plan will need to use the new targets and it is very unlikely they have historically allocated enough land to account for the change in housing requirements.
Prepare for planning by appeal as soon as the NPPF comes into effect, or look out for new Call for Sites and get your land submitted! These are targets for both Immediate and Strategic land buyers.
Bucket 2 – No draft local plan and an adopted local plan (within 5 years)
These will take a little longer for the housing targets to come into effect.
For strategic land, it is unlikely the authority will be as fast to move on a new local plan compared to Bucket 1, and other authorities in other buckets will need to move faster so spend more energy there in the short term. The new targets for plan making will only apply to the next local plan.
For immediate land, planning applications will only be decided against the new targets after July 2026 at the earliest.
At that point however, the current adopted plan is tested against housing need figures, with a potential 20% buffer being applied to the five year supply if the adopted plan’s DPA falls below 80% of the new housing need.
A great case for longer time horizon immediate land, otherwise known as short-term strat! This shows how developers find land in areas with medium-term opportunities.
Bucket 3 – Draft plan at Preferred Options (Regulation 18) or earlier
Another group to look at straight away for strategic land. Unless the local authority has based its new plan’s numbers on a previous plan, they will need to build their new plan under the new numbers.
As in previous buckets, it is unlikely they have allocated enough land. Most authorities will need to allocate more land and will revisit their Land Availability Assessments or call for sites for new land to consider.
For immediate land — treat the authority the same as Bucket 1 or 2 depending on the adopted plan position.
Bucket 4 – Draft plan at Presubmission (Regulation 19)
These are more nuanced. Some local authorities in this group will need to be looked at straight away — especially if they do not meet the 80% test.
This test is a simple check of the planned for dwellings per annum in the current draft plan against the new housing need figures. If the current plan allows for less than 80% of housing need, it will need to be resubmitted.
In this case, checking the differences between the Reg 18 and Reg 19 allocation documents will be crucial as this can point to potential sites. If a local authority fails the 80% test then they could be looking at having to plan for 100s more homes per annum.
Bucket 5 -Draft plan at Independent Examination
For immediate land, leave these alone in the short term. If the authority fails their 80% check they will be subject to a 20% buffer, but there should be bigger fish to fry elsewhere.
However, for strategic land, these are some very interesting areas in the long term. You will need to wait for the plan to become adopted before new housing targets come into effect for plan-making. Medium priority in the short term, but longer-term strategic land buyers will avoid these authorities at their peril!
This all looks like a lot of work to figure out, how do I know which authorities fall where?
Worry not, for we have done the heavy lifting for you. We’ve put together data on what position each local authority is in, and as a result, the five-year supply position they will most likely have in March when the NPPF comes into force.
One key point – The dataset for five-year supply (Plan Making) as of March 12 is the way to check if authorities fail their 80% checks. If they do the plan making five-year supply will be based on the new numbers.
Click on the image below to take a look and check where your land lies.
How the new housing targets impact local authorities, categorized into ‘buckets’.
Going a step further
It is all well and good knowing which “bucket” a local authority falls in but we’ve also put together data on what the suspected five year supply will be as of March this year.
We are using March this year as the date to look at because this is when the new targets will come into affect and when the various different tests on each local plan will take place. To see why this is important, take two different local authorities – Uttlesford and Dacorum.
Both Uttlesford and Dacorum have a local plan at the Pre-submission phase (Reg 19), but one will have to resubmit and the other will be able to carry on with its existing target.
Uttlesford has planned in their Reg 19 for 675 dwellings per annum, which is somewhat close to it’s new housing need target of 804 dwellings per annum — more than 80%. As such, it will not need to resubmit and will build and submit its plan under the old NPPF.
Dacorum meanwhile has undershot, with a targeted 1022 dwellings per annum in their Reg 19 compared to a housing need of 1355. This gives around 75%.
The important part is this, resubmission will likely mean that they will have to now aim for 1355 dwellings per annum, not just 80%. They will need to allocate enough land to account for the difference between this and their previous draft plan, a whopping 333 dwellings per annum extra!
The same opportunities can be found across the local plan process, there are authorities in every stage of the plan-making process who will, one way or another, have to cope in the short term with a change to their required housing targets. This is the opportunity.
To make it easy, we’ve put all this together in a handy cheat-sheet, just click the image below. As before you can follow the link for an interactive version of the map to allow for more detailed appraisal. Make sure to click the individual filters to load different views of data.
Applying new housing targets to current Five Year Supply Figures.
Want to make the most out of this data?
We hope that you found this post on how to find development land in 2025 useful.
If you want to make the most out of this data, you need to consider using Landstack — the UK’s best and most detailed site sourcing and evaluation platform. There you can get access to standardised planning data alongside powerful geospatial tools to take your land and planning game to the next level.
If you are interested, feel free to reach out at support@landstack.co.uk.
In the meantime, if you have got this far, thank you for reading. From everyone at Landstack we wish you all a happy and prosperous 2025!
Written by Jos Pink, Managing Director.