Housebuilding in Hampshire in 2006/07

7,350 new homes were built in Hampshire including Portsmouth and Southampton during the twelve months to 31 March 2007. For the fourth year in a row, house building was well above the annual target of 6,030 in the Government's Regional Planning Guidance (RPG). Record house building occurred in Southampton, Fareham, Gosport and Rushmoor.

1 7,353 additional dwellings were built in Hampshire (including Portsmouth and Southampton) in 2006/07. The graph below shows the trend in completions for Hampshire 2001 - 2007. The level of completions last year was significantly above the annual RPG requirement (6,030) and the average level of completions in recent years. In each of the last four years housing completions have exceeded the annual RPG requirement.

2 Table 1 below shows that. housing completions for the period 2001-2007 are 108 % of the RPG requirement and completions in 2006/07 were 122 % of the annual RPG requirement.

Table 1. Housing completions in Hampshire compared to RPG requirement

	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05	05/06	06/07	Total
Dwellings completed	4,815	5,600	6,762	7,618	7,006	7,353	39,154
RPG requirement	6,030	6,030	6,030	6,030	6,030	6,030	36,180
% of RPG requirement	80%	93%	112%	126%	116%	122%	108%

3 The number of dwellings built last year increased significantly in the districts of Southampton, Gosport, Fareham and Rushmoor.

4 Gosport, Rushmoor and Southampton have already exceeded the `baseline' number of new homes which the Structure Plan requires by 2011.

5 If the Structure Plan baseline requirement is annualised, the same four districts as last year are below the annualised requirement. These are Basingstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Portsmouth and Test Valley. The remaining authorities have all exceeded the annualised requirement.

6 Completions by district are shown below.

Table 2 Net completions on all sites

For further information, contact Sue Clark, Spatial Strategy Group, Environment Department, Hampshire County Council tel. 01962 845890