Hertfordshire council area
Selling Land in Watford
Watford is built out almost to its boundary, and its plan, adopted in October 2022, expects most new homes on land that has been used before. The council last counted 5.44 years of housing land, a Housing Delivery Test result of 95% keeps it clear of penalties, and a review of the plan is due to begin in 2027.
- 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
A Borough Built Out to Its Edges
Watford Borough Council covers the town of Watford and neighbourhoods such as Cassiobury, Nascot, Callowland, North Watford, Garston, Leavesden and Oxhey. The inspector who examined its plan called it geographically the smallest district in England outside London, and largely built up. It covers about 21.5 square kilometres and had 102,246 residents at the 2021 census.
- Built to the boundary. The adopted plan says the built-up area has spread up to the borough's edges.
- Well connected. The plan counts four stations with main line, London Overground and Underground trains, led by Watford Junction on the West Coast Main Line, while the Abbey Line to St Albans adds Watford North and Garston. The M25 runs just north.
- Rivers and canal. The Colne, the Gade and the Grand Union Canal run through the borough.
The question here is rarely whether homes are wanted, but whether a particular plot, yard, office or garden can carry them, and how densely.
Watford in Figures
The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.
Housing Delivery Test 2025
95%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Homes built against homes needed
2,222
of 2,349 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
October 2022
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
No recent stage listed
Check the council's website for its timetable.
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.
Five Years of Land, With 367 Homes to Spare
The council's only supply statement since the plan was adopted came out in May 2025, with a base date of 1 April 2024, and its February 2026 monitoring report still relies on it. Its workings show how thin the cushion is:
| Step in the calculation | Watford's figure |
|---|---|
| Yearly requirement | 784 homes, the adopted plan's figure, used because the plan was then less than five years old |
| Shortfall since 2021 | 69 homes over the first three years of the plan, spread across the next five (the Sedgefield method), adding 14 a year |
| Buffer | 5%, adding 40 a year, as the delivery result then in force was above 85% |
| Five-year requirement | 838 homes a year, or 4,190 in total |
| Deliverable supply | 4,557 homes: 2,340 with permission or prior approval, 1,427 on allocated sites and 790 from windfall |
| Result | 5.44 years for April 2024 to March 2029 |
The margin is 367 homes, less than half a year of the requirement. Windfall, homes on sites the plan never named, supplies about a sixth of the total, which shows how much Watford depends on sites that come forward one at a time. The statement said future updates would follow the end of each monitoring year more closely, yet the council's supply page still lists only this one, and the 691 homes completed in 2024/25 fell short of the plan's 784 a year.
What That Means for Land Outside the Town
With five years shown and a delivery result of 95%, the council is not short of evidenced need on either national measure. In the Green Belt, homes on grey belt land depend on showing exactly that kind of unmet need. A grey belt case for housing in Watford is therefore difficult today, and would stay so unless a new statement fell below five years or the delivery result dropped under 75%.
Gateway, Town Centre and Colne Valley
The plan sets a minimum of 784 homes a year from 2021 to 2038, 13,328 in all, which the inspector confirmed matched the government's standard method in 2021. Policy SS1.1 focuses growth in a Core Development Area near the stations and the centre, expected to take 80% of allocated development across three strategic development areas:
| Strategic development area | Size | Homes the inspector expected |
|---|---|---|
| Watford Gateway, around Watford Junction | 31 hectares | About 2,500, with a primary school, a hotel and offices |
| Town Centre | 52 hectares | About 500 |
| Colne Valley, including Watford Riverwell | 83 hectares | About 4,400 |
Density is set high. The inspector recorded assumptions from 220 homes per hectare on allocations in the Core Development Area down to 55 in the least accessible parts, and base heights from four storeys outside that area to ten in parts of the Gateway. In 2024/25, completed schemes averaged 283 homes per hectare inside the Core Development Area and 100 outside it.
In the Colne Valley, the council runs the Riverwell regeneration through a joint venture with Kier, working with the West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on the hospital's redevelopment, according to its 2026 to 2028 delivery plan.
Plots, Yards and Offices Under Policy S4
In 2024/25, 703 of the 710 gross completions were on previously developed land, 99%. Flats made up 74% of what was built, studios another 14% and houses 11%. The largest schemes were Land East of Ascot Road, with 170 homes, Hanny House on Clarendon Road, with 168, and 94 to 98 St Albans Road, with 141. Here the next hundred homes are more likely to come from a car park, an office block or a row of garages than from a field.
National policy helps here. Within a settlement, policy S4 of the August 2026 framework starts from approval, so a refusal needs harm that substantially outweighs a scheme's benefits. In Watford almost every site outside the Green Belt sits inside the town. The local tests are what decide a scheme:
- Employment land. Policy EM4.2 covers the designated industrial areas, where the council monitors for no net loss of industrial floorspace. In the Watford Gateway, by contrast, policy CDA2.1 accepts that some office or industrial space may be lost where a residential-led scheme serves the area's wider aims.
- Height and character. Outside the Core Development Area the plan's base height is four storeys, so backland and garden plots in areas such as Cassiobury or Nascot are judged against the houses around them.
- Flood risk. Land beside the Colne or the Gade can fall within a flood zone, and then needs a flood risk assessment from the outset.
- Access. A plot behind existing houses needs a safe way in, and who owns the strip in between can decide it.
Permission brings obligations. The council's guidance of July 2025 asks schemes of ten or more homes to make 35% affordable, measured by habitable room, with a suggested 60% of that as social rent. In 2024/25 only 18% of completions were affordable. We cost this requirement, and the section 106 and CIL payments that sit alongside it, before agreeing a price. Owners of yards, depots and tired commercial buildings can see what we take on in brownfield and yards.
The Green Belt Fifth and the Russell Lane Release
The adopted plan gives the Green Belt as about 19% of the borough. CPRE Hertfordshire, using government statistics for March 2021, gives 18.7%. The two agree once rounded. The plan adds that most of this Green Belt performs a community function as public open space, with other parts important for wildlife.
The plan did adjust the boundary, though only where the inspector accepted exceptional circumstances, at five locations. Among them, land at Tolpits Lane was taken out to extend an existing traveller site, land north of the A41 had become part of a large film studio complex, and a small field was released as allocation HS06, Russell Lane, for around 90 homes, which the inspector described as a rare opportunity. Everything else stays in the Green Belt, where policy SS1.1 refuses inappropriate development except in very special circumstances.
Previously developed land is the exception. A yard or former commercial site with lawful buildings or hardstanding is treated differently from an open field, whatever the housing numbers. Our grey belt guide sets out the tests and the Golden Rules that follow them.
The Land We Look for in Watford
- Yards, depots, garage courts and car parks anywhere in the town.
- Offices and commercial buildings outside the designated industrial areas, especially near Watford Junction and the town centre.
- Large gardens and backland plots with their own access, or a realistic route to one.
- Land within an easy walk of Watford Junction, Watford High Street or the Abbey Line stations.
- Previously developed land in the Green Belt with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
- Neighbouring plots whose owners are willing to combine them into one scheme.
Open Green Belt fields are the hardest ask here at present, and our review will say so plainly. For sites inside the town, we pay for the design, transport and viability work the council expects, under an option at a price agreed at the start, above what the land is worth today.
Watford as Its Plan Reaches Five
A Delivery Result With No Room to Spare
The Housing Delivery Test 2025, published on 17 August 2026, covers April 2022 to March 2025. At 95%, Watford clears the 95% line below which a council must publish an action plan, but only just. Its monitoring report records results of 48% in 2020 and 73% in 2022. The next edition should drop 2022/23, when the council recorded 778 net completions, and add 2025/26, not yet reported. We make no forecast. Below 95% an action plan would follow; under 85%, the supply sums would carry a 20% buffer; and under 75%, unmet need would count as established for policy S5 with no further evidence required.
October 2027 and the Standard Method
The plan turns five on 17 October 2027. After that, the yardstick for supply normally becomes the government's standard method in place of the plan's 784 a year. The council has not published its own figure under the method introduced in December 2024. The government's indicative figure that month was 831 homes a year, and planning consultants Turley, rerunning it with the March 2025 affordability data, put it at 815. Applied to the 2025 statement's supply of 4,557 with a 5% buffer, those give about 5.2 and 5.3 years, so the switch alone would not erase the margin. What decides it is the supply the next statement finds, and a shortfall would give well placed edge land the evidenced need it lacks now.
A Plan Review From 2027
The council's delivery plan for 2026 to 2028 commits it to start reviewing the Local Plan in 2027, and its monitoring report says the review will be made under the new plan-making system, with a fresh timetable to follow. A call for sites is the usual first step, and how land is best put forward at each stage is covered in our call for sites and local plans guide.
Reorganisation, on Hold
On 16 July 2026 the government decided that Watford, Hertsmere and Three Rivers would form a South West Hertfordshire council from 1 April 2028. On 7 September 2026 the minister for local government asked councils to stop work on the July decisions while he reviews them, and said the May 2027 elections will be held on existing boundaries. Watford Borough Council therefore remains the planning authority for now.
What This Means for Timing
- Sites inside the town can be looked at now, as policy S4 does not wait for the review.
- Green Belt and edge land is best prepared for the review's first stages, with evidence ready before the council shortlists sites.
Questions About Land in Watford
I own a small office building near Watford Junction. Could it become homes?
Often it can be considered. The Watford Gateway policy accepts some loss of office space for a residential-led scheme, and the plan expects high densities near the station. The case turns on the building, its neighbours and the height the council will accept.
My garden backs onto a lane in Cassiobury. Is it big enough to be worth asking?
It can be. Policy S4 supports homes within the town, and outside the Core Development Area the plan's base height is lower, so access and the houses around a plot matter more than its size. We check both in our first review.
The council has more than five years of land. Why talk to you now?
Because most Watford land is judged under policy S4, which does not depend on the supply figure. For Green Belt land, the 2027 review and the plan's fifth anniversary could change things, and a site with its evidence ready is better placed for both.
My land is in Watford's Green Belt. Is there any route?
Not an easy one today. With five years of supply and a delivery result of 95%, a grey belt case for housing lacks the evidenced need it requires. Land with lawful buildings or hardstanding is treated differently, and open land is best prepared for the plan review.
Will a South West Hertfordshire council change how my land is judged?
Not while the change is paused. If it goes ahead, the Watford plan would keep applying until the new council adopted a replacement, which would weigh land in Watford alongside land in Hertsmere and Three Rivers. Our Hertfordshire page sets out where each of those councils stands.
Tell Us About Your Land in Watford
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More in Hertfordshire
County overview
Selling Land in Hertfordshire
Selling land in Hertfordshire? Most councils are well behind on new homes, and grey belt is opening up. We agree your price and pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 110%
Selling Land in Broxbourne
Own land in Broxbourne? The council's figures put its housing land supply at 2.13 years, well short of five. We agree your price and pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 102%
Selling Land in East Hertfordshire
Own land in East Hertfordshire? About two thirds of it lies outside the Green Belt, and supply is under four years. We agree a price and pay for planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 52%
Selling Land in Dacorum
Own land in Dacorum? The council built about half the homes it needed, and land beyond the Green Belt has options. We pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 26%
Selling Land in Hertsmere
Own land in Hertsmere? The council built only 26% of the homes it needed and a new plan is coming. We agree your price and pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 46%
Selling Land in St Albans
Own land in St Albans district? A new Local Plan was adopted in 2026 and the next one has started. We agree a price for your land and fund the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 47%
Selling Land in Three Rivers
Own land in Three Rivers? The government stepped in over its plan and the council built under half the homes needed. We pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 46%
Selling Land in Welwyn Hatfield
Own land in Welwyn Hatfield? The council built 46% of the homes it needed and a new plan is out for comment. We agree a price and pay for the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 75%
Selling Land in North Hertfordshire
Own land in North Hertfordshire? The council's own figures show 2.6 years of housing land, not five. We agree your price and pay for all the planning.
Housing Delivery Test: 78%
Selling Land in Stevenage
Own land in Stevenage? The council updated its local plan in July 2026 and has promised a new one next. We agree your price and pay for all the planning.
Sources
- Watford Borough Council: Watford Local Plan 2021 to 2038 (adopted October 2022)
- Watford Borough Council: Local Plan adoption statement (October 2022)
- Planning Inspectorate: Report on the examination of the Watford Local Plan (September 2022)
- Watford Borough Council: Five year supply statement 2025 (May 2025)
- Watford Borough Council: Authority Monitoring Report 2024 to 2025 (February 2026)
- Watford Borough Council: Affordable Housing and Developer Contributions SPD (July 2025)
- Watford Borough Council: Delivery Plan 2026 to 2028
- Turley for the Land, Planning and Development Federation: The standard method of assessing housing need (May 2025)
- CPRE Hertfordshire: Hertfordshire Green Belt statistics by district
- Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council: Government announces four unitary authorities in Hertfordshire (July 2026)
- Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council: Ministerial letter on reviewing reorganisation in Hertfordshire (September 2026)
- Wikipedia: Watford
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.