Introduction
Local plans must be informed by an understanding of the needs, opportunities, constraints and wider context of the area. As evidence base is completed, reports will be added. For older evidence base see Local Plan Evidence Base and Monitoring.
Completed evidence base
- Economic Development Needs Assessment (EDNA) and Appendices 1-5 (March 2025). The EDNA looks at how Somerset’s economy is doing now and what it might need in the future in terms of land and buildings for businesses. It helps Somerset Council plan for jobs, business growth, and the types of spaces companies will need up to the year 2045. It will be supplemented by a forthcoming Employment Land Review which will identify the supply of employment land opportunities in Somerset.
- Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) and Landscape Sensitivity Analysis (LSA), June 2025. In June 2024 LUC were commissioned to prepare a Landscape Character Assessment and Landscape Sensitivity Assessment for the Somerset Council Area. Both are presented as digital reports and can be viewed on Somerset Landscape Evidence Base website.
- Town Centre Health Checks report collates data to evaluate the vitality and viability of town centres. It is a tool for monitoring the health of town centres and inform policy development in the Local Plan. They are based upon a number of key performance indicators.
- Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment, February 2026. The GTAA is an assessment of current and future need for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation needs in the Somerset Council area. It helps Somerset Council plan for pitches and plots to we will need up to 2045.
- The Retail Leisure Needs Assessment provides an assessment of baseline and forecast retail and leisure expenditure and need, and provides policy recommendations based on this.
- The Somerset Local Housing Needs Assessment (LHNA) provides up to date evidence on the amount and type of housing needed across Somerset between 2025 and 2045. It assesses overall housing need, affordable housing need, and the needs of specific groups, including older people and people with disabilities. The LHNA is an evidence document and does not set housing targets or planning policies.
- The Somerset Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Level 1 (SFRA L1) and its appendices is a strategic assessment of all sources of flooding in the Local Plan Authority (LPA) area. It provides information on flood risk and guidance for planners and developers on the Sequential and Exceptions Test procedures. It is used to inform strategic policies and allocations in the Local Plan and Flood Risk Assessments for planning applications. It will be supplemented by a SFRA Level 2 which will look at intended allocations and where future windfall pressures in flood risk areas are expected, to provide more detailed analysis of flooding and identify the areas with least risk of flooding.
Sustainability Appraisal
Sustainability Appraisals (SA) are required under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and are used to assess Local Plans to ensure they promote sustainable development. The Somerset Council SA Scoping Report is the first step in this process, and outlines the context of the Somerset Local Plan, establishes the baseline, and sets out the SA Framework, which will be used to assess future versions of the Somerset Local Plan. The SA is supported by appendices which provide the evidence base upon which the Framework is based, and incorporates other relevant assessments: a Strategic Environmental Assessment, a Health Impact Assessment, and an Equalities Impact Assessment.
Topic Papers
Topic papers explore different local plan topics, helping to explain how we arrive at different policies and proposals within the Plan. As they are completed they will be added below. However, by their nature the topic papers will be updated periodically in response to consultation comments, availability and analysis of data and information, updated national and local contexts and otherwise. They will be finalised at the point of submission of the Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination.
Evidence base in production
- Employment Land Review – The ELR will identify the supply of employment land opportunities in Somerset including allocated sites, vacant plots on existing industrial estates, sites with planning permission, sites proposed through the Call for Sites for employment uses, and sites being marketed. It will consider the findings of the Economic Development Needs Assessment and conclude whether Somerset has an under or an oversupply of employment land.
- Playing Pitch and Built Sports Facilities Strategy – The strategy will assess the needs and opportunities for playing pitches and built sport facilities for Somerset. It will inform policy development to ensure sufficient open space, sport and recreation provision is made to make the proposals acceptable in land use planning terms.
- Taunton and Wellington Green Wedge Review – The review revisits and update the Council’s Green Wedge boundary evidence relating to Taunton and Wellington. Conclusions from the updated assessment take the form of recommendations for the alteration, retention, and/or removal of existing Green Wedges. However, it must be noted that the report does not incorporate an assessment of land for the creation of new Green Wedges. On 04/02/2026 the Planning and Transport Policy Sub-Committee resolved to not approve the Green Wedge Boundary Review and its recommendations, as the Planning and Transport Policy Sub-Committee were not satisfied with the review work undertaken and the recommendation of the Trull Green Wedge. The matter will be considered further through the Local Plan process.
- Role and Function of Settlements Study – The Role and Function of Settlements study will ensure that we have a good understanding of the nature of the settlements within Somerset to inform the production of the Somerset Local Plan. With help from Parish, Town and City councils it gathers information on the services and facilities currently available in settlements, the population, employment opportunities and access to the transport network concluding on the relative sustainability of our settlements in the form of a settlement hierarchy.
- Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment – A HELAA is a technical study to identify and assess potential sites for future housing and economic development to inform new local plans. The HELAA will include details of all the sites submitted to the Council and identifies land with potential for housing and economic development. It will provide the initial assessment of sites that are ‘potentially suitable’ or ‘unsuitable’ for development. Please be aware that the inclusion of any site in the HELAA does not give any status to the site in terms of the potential for future allocation in the draft Local Plan, nor any weight in decision making and it will still need to go through the formal planning process.
- Sustainability Appraisal Report – We are required to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) (incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment) alongside development of the new Somerset Local Plan. The purpose of SA is to promote sustainable development through better integration of sustainability considerations in the preparation and adoption of plans. It will incorporate Health Impact Assessment.
- Habitat Regulations Assessment Screening and Scoping Report – The first stage of a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) of the Local Plan. The screening process is to firstly determine whether the plan is excluded from HRA, and then to scope if there are any aspects of the plan which may lead to likely significant effects at a European site, either alone or in combination with other plans or projects. Statutory consultees have been consulted upon the report.
- Habitat Regulations Assessment report (Appropriate Assessment) – The Local Plan will need to be subject to full Appropriate Assessment. In line with the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (Habitat Regulations), it is necessary to screen whether or not the plan is likely to give rise to significant effects upon any relevant protected European sites.
- Open Space Audit – The study will provide information on green space location, coverage and provision. It will provide a comprehensive assessment of the current level of provision of the different types of open space.
- Water Cycle and Phosphates Study – The study will assess potential issues relating to current and future planned development in Somerset and the impacts on potable and non-potable water supply, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, and water quality in rivers and streams in Somerset. It will focus on identifying the high-level constraints and capacity in existing water and wastewater infrastructure and identify the need for new water and wastewater infrastructure provision to support planned growth in a timely manner.
- Strategic Green Belt Assessment – Work package 1 of the assessment reviews the Mayoral combined Authority Strategic Green Belt Assessment which was prepared and published in 2022 and a review of other Stage 1 work covering the Bristol and Bath Green Belt outside of the MCA geography. Commissioned jointly by Bath and North East Somerset Council, South Gloucestershire Council, North Somerset Council, Bristol City Council, and Somerset Council.
Other evidence base expected (subject to change)
- Infrastructure Delivery Plan
- Whole Plan Viability Assessment
- Transport evidence
- Green Infrastructure work
- Urban Capacity Assessment
- Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Level 2
- Heritage Impact Assessment