Site Typologies and Viability Testing Approach

As there is no specific guidance in Northern Ireland that sets out how viability testing should be undertaken, the strategic plan-wide viability assessment followed the established practice of assessing the residual value for different site 'typologies'. These typologies take account of the broad location, size and type (greenfield or brownfield) of land available in the Belfast District. They also reflect the form of development likely to take place on such land and how the sites might relate to the density framework set out in Policy HOU4. The role of typologies testing is not to provide a precise answer as to the viability of every development likely to take place during the plan period. Rather, as they are hypothetical, they allow the assessment to deal efficiently with the very high level of detail that would otherwise be generated by an attempt to test every site. Accordingly, they can only ever provide evidence of policies being 'broadly viable'. The testing does however provide a high level assurance that the policies within the plan are set in a way that is compatible with the likely economic viability of development needed to deliver the plan, and is considered robust enough that it should limit the number of cases where individual planning applications require consideration of viability, to exceptional circumstances only.