North East
Darlington Borough Council planning intelligence
Local Plan stage, adopted plan, plan period and published housing position for Darlington Borough Council, read from the national planning data platform on 20/09/2026.
Authority dashboard
Local Plan stage
Adopted
Promote through the next review, or on planning-balance grounds now.
Five-year supply
5.3years
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets
Housing Delivery Test
285%
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets
Annual housing requirement
492homes pa
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets
Plan-making and delivery position
How favourable is this authority's position for promoting land right now?
- Local Plan progressAdopted
The plan has been formally adopted and forms part of the statutory development plan. Authorities must review plans at least every five years.
- Five-year housing land supply5.3 years
At or above the five-year requirement on the published position.
- Housing Delivery Test285% delivered
At or above 95% of the requirement delivered.
- Evidence coverage held91%
2 planning documents indexed for this authority.
What does this mean?
Read the plan stage first: allocation routes narrow considerably once a plan reaches examination.
Local Plan stage
Adopted
The plan has been formally adopted and forms part of the statutory development plan. Authorities must review plans at least every five years.
Submitting land: Promote through the next review, or on planning-balance grounds now.
Published position
- Local Plan stage
- Adopted
- Adopted development plan
- Local Plan 2016-2036
- Emerging Local Plan
- Data currently unavailable
- Plan period
- 2016 to 2036
- Housing figure in the plan document
- 9,840 homes
- Annual housing requirement
- 492 homes a year
- Five-year housing land supply
- 5.3 years
- Housing Delivery Test
- 285%
- Plan documents held nationally
- 2
The plan has been formally adopted and forms part of the statutory development plan. Authorities must review plans at least every five years.
Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Open Government Licence) · dated 2022-02-17
Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Open Government Licence) · dated 2022-02-17
Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Open Government Licence)
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets · dated 2016-03-31
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets · dated 2016-03-31
Source: planning.data.gov.uk local-plan and local-authority datasets · dated 2026-08-17
Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Open Government Licence)
Where a figure has not been published in our sources it is shown as data currently unavailable. It is never inferred or estimated.
Development pressure & opportunity outlook
A 0-100 index of how much pressure Darlington Borough Council is under to release new land, built only from published evidence, followed by what that evidence means for promoting land here over the next 12-24 months.
Loading the evidence position…
Ask the Local Plan reader
Ask a question about Darlington Borough Council's indexed planning documents and get an answer with document, page and policy citations — never a summary without a source you can check.
What this means for a landowner
The plan stage tells you whether allocation is still realistically available. Early stages — evidence gathering and Regulation 18 — are when sites are selected, so a Call for Sites submission has the greatest effect. Once a plan reaches Regulation 19 or examination, the practical routes narrow to soundness representations, the next plan review, or an application relying on the authority's land supply position.
The housing figures matter for the same reason. An authority that cannot demonstrate a five-year supply, or that falls below the Housing Delivery Test thresholds, applies the presumption in favour of sustainable development differently — which is what practitioners mean by the tilted balance.
Common questions
- What stage is the Darlington Borough Council Local Plan at?
- Adopted. The plan has been formally adopted and forms part of the statutory development plan. Authorities must review plans at least every five years.
- Can I still submit land to Darlington Borough Council?
- Promote through the next review, or on planning-balance grounds now.
- Can Darlington Borough Council demonstrate a five-year housing land supply?
- The published position is 5.3 years. Figures move as monitoring is updated, so always check the authority's latest statement.
Other authorities in North East
This assessment is an automated planning intelligence report based on available public data. It does not constitute planning, legal, valuation or other professional advice and does not guarantee that planning permission will be granted.