East Hampshire District Council leader Cllr Richard Millard has again told the government its housing target for the district is unfair because 57 per cent of it is in the South Downs National Park.

In a letter to MP Matthew Pennycook, the minister for housing, communities and local government, he said the government’s calculations for the Housing Delivery Test penalised planning authorities which had parts of national parks in their areas.

His letter was backed by both MPs whose constituencies cover part of the East Hampshire district, Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) and Greg Stafford (Farnham and Bordon).

East Hampshire District Council is the planning authority for only 43 per cent of the district - but this area contains 74 per cent of the district’s homes.

The Housing Delivery Test measures how many homes have been built against a three-year target. East Hampshire has to try to meet that target over just the 43 per cent of the district in which it controls planning.

It cannot influence how many houses are built in the South Downs National Park, and the government has increased the annual housing target for the district to 1,124 homes per year. Failing to meet it increases the pressure from speculative development.

Cllr Millard said: “We have, once again, written to the government to express our serious concerns about formulaic calculations and how they disproportionately impact East Hampshire.

“We are concerned that the current Housing Delivery Test methodology is not fit for purpose for our area and should be revised.

“We are being judged on aspects of housing delivery that are outside our control. The South Downs National Park Authority faces no consequences for not delivering homes in East Hampshire, whereas East Hampshire District Council faces serious consequences, such as the increased threat of speculative and uncontrolled development.

“This is inherently unjust. It is an issue not just for East Hampshire but for all council areas covered by national parks up and down the country. The government needs to change how the Housing Delivery Test is calculated to take account of this.”

In the letter, the council asserts that the Housing Delivery Test should not be measured on a district-wide basis in areas split between multiple planning authorities, and instead it should be based on the local housing need and delivery performance of the relevant local planning authority only.