Hampshire council area
Selling Land in Winchester
Winchester adopted a new Local Plan in March 2026 and, within months, started work on the next one, because the government now puts the district's housing need far above what that plan provides. For landowners outside the South Downs National Park, the next three years of plan-making matter more than today's numbers.
- We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
- Your price is agreed up front, in writing
- If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing
Cathedral City, Whiteley and the Market Towns
Winchester City Council covers 661 square kilometres of central Hampshire and about 135,600 people. Beyond the city itself it takes in Whiteley and the edge of the south Hampshire towns, the market towns of New Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, and a wide spread of villages from Micheldever and Kings Worthy in the north to Denmead, Wickham and Swanmore in the south.
- Two authorities. The inspector who examined the new plan recorded that over forty per cent of the district falls within the South Downs National Park. There, planning applications and plan-making belong to the Park's own authority rather than the city council.
- Three planning areas. The city council's plan divides the rest into Winchester Town, the South Hampshire Urban Area, which takes in Whiteley and Newlands west of Waterlooville, and the market towns and rural area.
- Building well ahead of target. The district delivered 2,903 homes against 1,671 needed in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 174%.
- A plan adopted in March 2026. The Winchester District Local Plan 2020 to 2040 replaced the 2013 Joint Core Strategy, the 2017 site allocations plan and the 2019 traveller sites plan in a single document.
A strong result and a brand new plan would usually point to a quiet few years for land. Winchester is different, because the plan it has just adopted was already short of the government's newer housing figure on the day it came into force.
Winchester in Figures
The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.
Housing Delivery Test 2025
174%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
5.5 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 1 July 2026, measured against the adopted Local Plan requirement of 687 homes a year, less a credit for homes built above target in 2024/25, plus a 20% buffer. Stated by Winchester City Council, for the Winchester plan area outside the South Downs National Park.
Checked sourceHomes built against homes needed
2,903
of 1,671 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2026
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Updated
New plan to 2044 started: scoping consultation 18 September to 9 October 2026
Checked source
Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.
A Supply That Held When the Buffer Went Up
On 1 July 2026 a national rule took effect that raises the buffer on a council's five-year supply to 20%, for decisions, where its plan was examined under a framework older than December 2024 and plans for 80% or less of the current standard method figure. Winchester meets both conditions: the council calculates that its plan's 687 homes a year is 61% of the standard method number. Its July 2026 supplementary note reworks the supply on that basis and finds 5.5 years at 1 July 2026:
| Step in the calculation | Council's figure |
|---|---|
| Requirement in the adopted plan | 687 homes a year |
| Five-year base | 3,386 homes, after a credit of 49 for the 147 homes built above target in 2024/25 |
| Buffer | 20%, adding 677 homes |
| Five-year requirement | 4,063 homes, or about 813 a year |
| Deliverable supply | 4,440 homes, of which 2,600 are on strategic allocations |
| Result | 5.5 years |
The supply itself did not change between the council's March 2026 update, which measured it at 31 March 2025 with a 5% buffer, and the July note. Only the requirement rose. The margin is now 377 homes, and more than half of the homes counted depend on the large strategic sites keeping to their programme.
Where That Leaves a Field Outside a Settlement
Under policy S5, introduced in the August 2026 framework, homes outside a settlement's limits can be supported where unmet need is evidenced, the land is well related to the place beside it and the roads, schools and drainage can cope. That need is usually evidenced in one of two ways: a delivery score under 75%, or fewer than five years of housing land, and even then it is not an automatic pass. With 174% and 5.5 years, Winchester shows neither today. The adopted plan's policy SP3, as the inspector summarised it, limits development in the countryside to what has an essential need to be there. We would rather say that plainly than suggest a speculative application on open farmland has good prospects at present.
The 2040 Plan and the Housing It Leaves for Later
The inspector's report sets the requirement at 11,311 homes from 2024 to 2040. That total carries two things other plans rarely include:
- An allowance for the National Park. 312 homes are expected from the part of the district inside the South Downs, counted from completions, permissions, windfall and the Park's own allocations.
- Homes for neighbours. 495 homes go towards unmet need elsewhere in south Hampshire, split under an agreement between the councils as 150 for Portsmouth and 345 for Havant.
The plan was prepared and examined under the December 2023 framework, and the inspector noted that even the submitted plan met less than 80% of need as the December 2024 standard method measures it. The inspector's answer was a main modification requiring the council to review it within six months of adoption, focused on the new, higher housing need. That modification is the reason Winchester is starting again so soon after finishing.
Two Sites That Shape the City's Supply
Within Winchester Town, the plan includes Sir John Moore Barracks (policy W2) and Bushfield Camp (policy W5). The inspector looked closely at Bushfield because of possible traffic emissions affecting the River Itchen, a Special Area of Conservation, and found no adverse effect on the river's integrity from air pollution. In the south, the plan's allocations include Newlands (SH1), North Whiteley (SH2) and Whiteley Green (SH3).
Nitrates Everywhere, Phosphates on the Itchen
Every new home in the city council's area, and any change that adds overnight accommodation, including splitting one house into flats, has to show it will not add to nutrient pollution. What that means depends on where the land drains:
| Catchment | What must be neutral |
|---|---|
| Test and East Hampshire | Nitrates only |
| River Itchen | Nitrates and phosphates |
The council sells credits itself at £3,250 per nitrate credit and £50,000 or £100,000 per phosphate credit, depending on location, and third-party schemes also sell mitigation, such as Itchen View for the Itchen and Stubbington Meadows for the East Hampshire catchment. The council warns of a shortage of suitable phosphate credits for some locations.
These costs come out of what a scheme can bear. The adopted plan recognises this by allowing, in the short term, a 5% reduction in affordable housing where a scheme has to mitigate nitrates and phosphates. Our guide to Section 106 and CIL sets out the other deductions a council makes before land value is reached.
The National Park Next Door
The South Downs National Park Authority is preparing its own new plan. It consulted on the final draft from 12 May to 23 June 2026 and received more than 2,700 comments from about 1,300 respondents. Its local plan page puts the plan before its planning committee on 12 November and the full Authority on 8 December 2026, with submission for examination before the end of the year. Until the new plan is adopted, land inside the Park is judged by the Authority's current local plan, and in every case by the high national bar for major development in a National Park.
The Land We Look for in Winchester
- Plots, yards and larger gardens inside the settlement boundaries of Winchester, Whiteley, New Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, where policy S4 of the national framework leans towards approval.
- Fields on the edge of the market towns and larger villages that could be considered for allocation in the 2044 plan.
- Larger holdings with room for the scale of growth the higher housing figure may call for.
- Land entered in the council's 2025 call for sites that still needs technical evidence behind it.
- Former commercial sites and yards, which are judged on their own merits whatever the housing figures say.
On a site that suits the new plan, the evidence is where the time goes: access, drainage, ecology, landscape and, here, a nutrient budget. We carry out and pay for all of it under an option with the price written in at the outset, higher than the land's present value, and the land stays in your use meanwhile. If permission never comes, the land stays yours and you owe us nothing. The sequence, from first survey to completion, is set out on how our process works, and smaller plots are covered on the paddocks and small sites page.
A New Plan for 1,127 Homes a Year
The council's scoping document for the Winchester District Local Plan 2044 gives the standard method figure as 1,127 homes a year, or 19,159 over 2026 to 2044, against the 687 a year the current plan provides outside the Park. It says the council will consider how that figure is shared between its plan area and the National Park. It also revisits the four approaches weighed for the 2040 plan, from keeping the settlement hierarchy or focusing on Winchester town to a strategic allocation or new settlement, or dispersing growth in proportion to the size of each settlement, and asks whether there are others.
The Council's Timetable
| Stage | Council's date |
|---|---|
| Scoping consultation | 18 September to 9 October 2026 |
| Gateway 1 | 30 October 2026 |
| Consultation on proposed content and evidence | 19 March to 30 April 2027 |
| Consultation on the proposed plan | 4 February to 31 March 2028 |
| Submission for examination | 30 October 2028 |
| Adoption | 30 April 2029 |
The scoping stage is not a chance to submit sites; the council points instead to the call for sites it ran in 2025. The spring 2027 consultation on proposed content is where land starts to be weighed in public, so a site's evidence does most good if it is ready by then. Our call for sites guide explains each stage.
The Supply and the Delivery Test
The next monitoring report will move the supply calculation on a year, still against the adopted plan's 687 and, while the national rule applies, a 20% buffer. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026 and the next follows a year on. At 174%, no consequence applies; the first of them starts below 95%. The supply is the figure to watch: a statement below five years would give well related land the evidenced need it lacks now.
Reorganisation, Withdrawn
The timetable was drawn up expecting the plan to be adopted by a new Mid Hampshire council, which the council had described as covering Winchester and parts of Test Valley, the New Forest and East Hampshire from April 2028, and even its September 2026 update still names that authority. On 7 September 2026 the government withdrew its Hampshire decision and opened a review, and the May 2027 elections will use existing boundaries. The scoping document notes the withdrawal and the government's view that plans should not be delayed by reorganisation. For now, Winchester City Council remains the planning authority for the district outside the National Park, and the South Downs National Park Authority for the land inside it.
What This Means for Timing
- Sites inside settlement boundaries can be looked at now, as they do not depend on the housing figures.
- Edge-of-settlement and larger sites are best prepared for the spring 2027 consultation, with evidence in hand.
- Land in the Itchen catchment needs its phosphate route settled early, as credits are scarce in places.
Questions About Land in Winchester
I put land into the 2025 call for sites. Can I add another field during the scoping consultation?
The council has said the scoping consultation is not for submitting sites. Land from 2025 feeds into its land availability work. The more useful step now is to have the evidence behind your site ready for the proposed content consultation in spring 2027.
My land is on the Downs side of the district. Who decides an application?
If it is inside the South Downs National Park, the National Park Authority decides it under its own plan, and major development there faces the highest national bar. The city council decides everything outside the Park boundary.
My land drains to the Itchen. Does the phosphate credit shortage rule it out?
Not necessarily, but it makes the nutrient route the first question. The council says credits are short for some locations, so we check what is available for your catchment before spending on design.
The council has 5.5 years of housing land. Is an application on the edge of my village worth making?
On open farmland outside a settlement boundary, rarely at the moment, because the supply is above five years and the plan's countryside policy applies. The new plan is the better route for most edge-of-village fields, and we can prepare for it at our cost.
The new housing figure is much higher. Will the villages take more homes?
The council has not decided. Its scoping document revisits options ranging from a strategic allocation or new settlement to growth spread across settlements in proportion to their size, and leaves open how the figure is shared with the National Park. The proposed content stage in 2027 should show which way it is leaning.
Tell Us About Your Land in Winchester
It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.
More in Hampshire
County overview
Selling Land in Hampshire
Selling land across Hampshire? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 60%
Selling Land in Fareham
Selling land in Fareham? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 25%
Selling Land in Gosport
Selling land in Gosport? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 48%
Selling Land in New Forest District
Selling land in New Forest? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 64%
Selling Land in Test Valley
Selling land in Test Valley? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 94%
Selling Land in Basingstoke and Deane
Selling land in Basingstoke and Deane? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 79%
Selling Land in East Hampshire
Selling land in East Hampshire? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 94%
Selling Land in Eastleigh
Selling land in Eastleigh? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 80%
Selling Land in Havant
Selling land in Havant? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 137%
Selling Land in Hart
Selling land in Hart? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Housing Delivery Test: 176%
Selling Land in Rushmoor
Selling land in Rushmoor? We agree your price up front and pay for all the planning. If planning fails, you keep your land and owe nothing.
Sources
- Winchester City Council: Winchester District Local Plan 2020 to 2040, adopted (March 2026)
- Winchester City Council: Inspector's report on the examination of the Winchester District Local Plan (2026)
- Winchester City Council: Winchester Housing Land Supply July 2026 Supplementary Note
- Winchester City Council: Winchester Housing Land Supply March 2026 Update
- Winchester City Council: Local Plan 2044 timetable (updated September 2026)
- Winchester City Council: Local Plan 2026 to 2044 scoping consultation document (September 2026)
- Winchester City Council: Local Plan 2026 to 2044 scoping consultation
- Winchester City Council: Nutrient neutrality, what developers need to know (August 2026)
- South Downs National Park Authority: New South Downs Local Plan
- Winchester City Council: The best way to protect the Winchester district (July 2026)
- GOV.UK: Review of local government reorganisation launched (7 September 2026)
- Wikipedia: City of Winchester
Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.