Worcestershire council area

Selling Land in Worcester

Worcester is among the smallest council areas in England, and much of the land that will house its growth sits just beyond the city boundary. The city shares a development plan with Malvern Hills and Wychavon, adopted in March 2026, and the three councils are already asking for land for the next one.

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Worcester in Outline

Worcester City Council covers the cathedral city and suburbs such as Claines, Barbourne, Northwick, St John's, Dines Green, Lower Wick, Diglis, St Peter the Great, Warndon and Ronkswood. At about 33 square kilometres it ranks 275th of 296 English districts by area, so there is little open land inside the boundary, which meets Malvern Hills District to the west and Wychavon to the east. The Severn flanks the western side of the city centre, the M5 serves the city at junctions 6 and 7, and trains call at Foregate Street and Shrub Hill in the city and at Worcestershire Parkway, about four and a half miles south east of the centre.

Delivery at 88%. Worcester's Housing Delivery Test 2025 result, covering April 2022 to March 2025, is below 95% but above 85%, which means an action plan rather than any change to how applications are weighed.
A shared, newly adopted plan. Worcester, Malvern Hills and Wychavon adopted the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review in March 2026. It plans for growth to 2041.
Five years of land. The councils' June 2026 statement claims 5.48 years of supply, measured jointly across South Worcestershire.
A river city. The Severn flooded the city in July 2007 and again in 2014, and flood risk is part of any site assessment near the river.

Worcester in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
88%
Below 95%: the council must publish an action plan to improve delivery.
Homes built against homes needed
928
of 1,053 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2026
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Updated
South Worcestershire Development Plan Review adopted March 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.

Which Council Decides Your Land

For many owners who think of their land as being in Worcester, the first question is administrative. The city boundary is drawn tightly, and villages that feel like part of the city's edge, such as Rushwick, Powick, Hallow and Kempsey, are parishes of Malvern Hills District. To the east lies Wychavon, where the new town at Worcestershire Parkway, which the councils call Wychavon Town, is allocated. Even the Broomhall urban extension on the city's southern side straddles all three council areas. Each council has its own delivery result, and it is that council's figure, not the city's, that the government reports for land in its area.

Where the land is	Council that decides it now	Its delivery result
Inside the city boundary	Worcester City Council	88%
Parishes to the west and south such as Rushwick, Powick, Hallow and Kempsey	Malvern Hills District Council	101%
Land to the east, including the Worcestershire Parkway new town	Wychavon District Council	103%

All three apply the same joint plan, so the policies for a site do not change at the boundary, and the councils measure their housing land supply as one area. Neither neighbour is below 95%, so none of the three councils is in the band where national policy treats unmet need as existing. A single South Worcestershire council was agreed by the government in July 2026, but that reorganisation has since been paused, so for now each council still decides the applications in its own area.

We confirm the authority, check the joint plan's policies map for any allocation, development boundary or designation, and then weigh access, flooding and heritage for every site we review, at no charge.

What a Newly Adopted Plan Changes

Planning inspectors published their conclusion on the review on 16 March 2026, finding it sound once their modifications were made, which they described as meaning the plan is realistically deliverable, consistent with national policy and legally compliant. The three councils set their adoption votes for 24 and 25 March, and the plan was adopted in March 2026. The city council's adoption announcement names the plan's big moves: Wychavon Town, major housing sites at Rushwick and Mitton, and about 300 hectares of land for jobs.

The End of the Tilted Balance

The councils say adoption means they can show enough housing land for the next five years, so the "tilted balance" no longer applies and they have firmer grounds to refuse development they consider inappropriate. For landowners, three consequences follow:

Allocated land has the clearest route. If your land is in the plan, the principle is settled and the work turns to the application.
Land inside the city is still supported. Policy S4 of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework expects development within settlements to be approved unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
Unallocated greenfield land belongs in the new plan. At 88% the city is not treated as having unmet need under policy S5, and supply exceeds five years, so the realistic route is the new plan.

Reading the June 2026 Land Supply Statement

The councils' Five Year Housing Land Supply Report, published in June 2026, covers April 2026 to March 2031 and concludes that South Worcestershire can demonstrate 5.48 years of deliverable sites. It measures supply against the adopted plan's requirement of 1,178 homes a year across the three councils. The five-year target, with its buffer, is 7,070 homes; the report counts 7,747 deliverable, a margin of 678.

When the inspectors cleared the plan in March, the councils expected it to give them five years' supply with a 5% buffer. The June report applies 20% instead, and explains why. The standard method now puts South Worcestershire's housing need at 2,150 homes a year, and because the adopted requirement is less than 80% of that figure and was examined under an earlier version of national policy, the report says a 20% buffer is required from 1 July 2026. The councils still show five years on that harder measure. What matters for a landowner is the gap between the two annual figures, which is exactly what the new plan exists to close.

That is where early work pays off. Our guide to how land gets into a local plan explains what councils ask for, and we prepare and fund that evidence.

Brownfield Plots and Urban Land

Because the city has so little open land, much of what can be built inside Worcester will come from land that is already developed or sits between existing buildings. Policy S4 gives this kind of site a positive starting point, and it is where most of our interest inside the boundary lies. Typical examples include:

Yards, depots, workshops and small commercial premises with a lawful use.
Garage courts and parking areas behind terraces.
Large rear gardens with a workable access to the road.
Plots near Foregate Street or Shrub Hill stations, where denser homes suit the location.
Former community, church or institutional land that has fallen out of use.

Heritage often decides the design rather than the principle in a city with a cathedral and a historic centre, so we commission the heritage and townscape work at the start. Our pages on brownfield land and yards and paddocks and small sites describe what we look for.

The River, the Roads and the Urban Extensions

Local factor	What it can mean for your land
The River Severn	The river flanks the western side of the centre, and the flood of 1670 is still recorded as the worst the city has seen. Land in the flood plain faces the sequential test, and our flood risk guide explains how homes can often be kept to the higher ground.
Carrington Bridge and the Southern Link Road	The city's second road bridge over the Severn was doubled, with the work completed on 5 August 2022, making the Southern Link Road dual between M5 junction 7 and Powick Roundabout. Land on the southern side of the city is now easier to reach.
M5 junctions 6 and 7	Junction 6 serves the north of the city and junction 7 the south. Proximity helps demand, while noise and junction capacity shape layouts.

Where the New Homes Are Actually Being Built

The June 2026 supply report gives a candid picture of where Worcester's growth is happening. Its completions table for 2025/26 records 75 homes in the Worcester City area, against 733 in Malvern Hills and 429 in Wychavon. The Worcester West urban extension at Temple Laugherne is under construction, with 289 homes completed that year alone, and Broomhall, the Worcester South extension, sits across all three council areas. Of the plan's newer strategic sites, four planning applications were pending across Wychavon Town, applications were pending across the whole of the Mitton allocation, and there was no permission or pending application yet for Rushwick.

A New South Worcestershire Plan Is Already Under Way

The plan adopted in March settles today's policies, but the councils agreed at adoption to start a new joint plan to meet the government's higher housing figures, and that work is moving on a published timetable.

The call for sites, open now. The councils are inviting land for the new South Worcestershire Local Plan from 19 August to 30 October 2026. A scoping consultation runs from 18 September to the same date, and the timetable shows formal plan preparation starting on 31 October 2026.
The milestones that follow. The councils' timetable shows consultation on plan content and evidence from 21 June to 2 August 2027, consultation on the proposed plan from 12 June to 7 August 2028, submission for examination on 2 October 2028 and adoption on 30 April 2029. The councils expect the new process to take about 30 months, not the six to seven years plans have typically needed.
The next land supply statement. The June report shows 678 homes of headroom over the five-year target. Slow strategic sites would erode it, and a shortfall counts as evidence of unmet need under policy S5, which would change the position for well placed land beyond settlement edges.
The next Housing Delivery Test. The councils' June report treats delivery as one South Worcestershire figure, citing a combined 2023 measurement of 133%. The government's Housing Delivery Test 2025, released on 17 August 2026, after that report was written, lists each council separately and gives the city 88%. Either way, the 20% buffer is already in the supply calculation. If the city's own figure fell below 75%, national policy would treat it as short of homes, and policy S5 would come into play for land at its edges.
Reorganisation on hold. The July 2026 decision to replace the county's councils with two unitaries from April 2028, with Worcester, Malvern Hills and Wychavon in the south, was paused in September pending a government review, and elections due in May 2027 are going ahead. The three councils already plan jointly, so a merger would change who decides applications far more than the plan itself.

For owners, the timing is plain: the window for putting land into the new plan is this autumn. We can review a site, assemble the evidence the councils ask for and submit it, at our cost, and we will tell you plainly which route suits your land.

Questions From Worcester Landowners

The plan was only adopted in 2026. Is there any point talking now?

Yes. The councils are already gathering land for the next plan, and land inside the city can come forward under policy S4 today. Sites that arrive with their access, drainage and ecology work done are in a much stronger position when allocations are chosen.

My land is at Rushwick or Kempsey. Does Worcester's figure apply to me?

No. Both are in Malvern Hills District, so that council decides applications there and the government reports its own delivery result. The joint plan's policies are the same on both sides of the boundary.

Will a South Worcestershire council change what happens to my land?

Not for now. The merger was paused in September 2026, so the city council still decides applications in the city. Even if a new council is created later, it would change who decides rather than the plan, which keeps applying until it is replaced.

Part of my land is in the Severn flood plain. Is it still worth asking?

Often, yes. Many sites have enough higher ground for homes, leaving the lower ground for drainage ponds and green space. We check the Environment Agency flood maps before giving a view.

How is a price worked out for a small city site?

We look at how many homes the site can take, the affordable housing and contributions it will carry, and the cost of the planning work, which we pay. Our page on land value explains the approach.

Tell Us About Your Land in Worcester

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.

About your land

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Sources

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.