Kirklees Council is carrying out a detailed analysis of the local housing market.
The Strategic Housing Market Assessment will be used to support an update to the new Kirklees Local Plan, the district’s planning blueprint which allocates land for development.
Research will look at key aspects impacting the housing market, including the cost of renting and buying, affordability and the patterns of people looking to move.
It will also take into account the current housing available across Kirklees – its size, type, condition and whether it’s available to rent or buy.
This will include surveying a large number of households across Kirklees and engaging with a range of other stakeholders involved in the provision of housing, to find out more about local housing needs and issues.
The housing need of different community groups will also be taken into account to ensure the data is fully representative – from families with young children to older people requiring care, and from those who require affordable housing to those wishing to build or commission their own homes.
The information is vitally important to ensuring the Local Plan is up-to-date and relevant to the current housing landscape in Kirklees.
The Local Plan lays out how much development the council want to achieve and where that development should take place, as well as setting out a suite of policies to be used alongside national planning guidance when determining planning applications.
The council has commissioned Arc4, consultants specialising in collecting and analysing data around the housing market, to support with this research.
Whilst thousands of households right across Kirklees have already been selected at random to take part, and will receive direct messaging inviting them to fill in a survey, anyone who lives in Kirklees is invited to fill in the same questionnaire.
The survey can be found online: kirkleeshousingsurvey2024.co.uk
