Stockport delivered 1,457 of the 3,408 homes required over three years. That is 43%, the lowest in Greater Manchester, and it triggers the planning presumption.

Stockport built 43% of the homes the government says it needed over the last three years. The borough was required to deliver 3,408 homes across 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. It delivered 1,457. That is the lowest score of any Greater Manchester borough, and the second year running that Stockport has fallen far enough to trigger the strongest sanction in the system.

The figure comes from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 measurement, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 17 August (MHCLG). Because both the 2024 and 2025 measurements were held back during planning reform, they were published on the same day, so two years of results landed at once.

Year by year, the gap has widened:

  • 2022-23: 1,186 homes required, 485 delivered
  • 2023-24: 1,125 required, 621 delivered
  • 2024-25: 1,097 required, 351 delivered

The 351 net additional homes recorded in 2024-25 are less than a third of that year’s requirement, and the weakest of the three years by a wide margin.

What the test does, and what 43% triggers

The Housing Delivery Test compares the net homes actually added in an area over three years against the number required over the same period. The government’s planning guidance sets three consequences, which apply together:

  • below 95%, the council must publish an action plan explaining how it will increase delivery
  • below 85%, a 20% buffer is added to the five year housing land supply the council must show
  • below 75%, the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies under paragraph 11d of the National Planning Policy Framework (MHCLG planning guidance)

At 43%, Stockport is under all three. The presumption is the one residents will notice. In plain terms, the council’s policies for the supply of housing are treated as out of date, so planning permission should be granted unless the harm of doing so clearly and significantly outweighs the benefits. It shifts the balance towards approving housing schemes, including ones the council or neighbours would rather refuse, and it strengthens a developer’s hand at appeal. Applications currently in the system are listed on our Stockport planning news page.

Last year’s measurement, published on the same day, put Stockport at 50%. The borough was in presumption then too, and it has since gone backwards.

Every other Greater Manchester borough did better

Housing Delivery Test 2025 measurement, the ten Greater Manchester boroughs Bar chart of the Housing Delivery Test 2025 measurement for the ten Greater Manchester boroughs. Stockport is lowest at 43 per cent, followed by Manchester 75 per cent, Trafford 83 per cent, Bolton 87 per cent, Bury 114 per cent, Oldham 115 per cent, Rochdale 125 per cent, Wigan 153 per cent, Salford 178 per cent and Tameside 232 per cent. A line marks the 75 per cent threshold below which the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies. Housing Delivery Test 2025: Greater Manchester Homes delivered as a share of homes required, 2022-23 to 2024-25. 100% means the target was met in full. 75%: presumption applies below this line 100% Stockport 43% Manchester 75% Trafford 83% Bolton 87% Bury 114% Oldham 115% Rochdale 125% Wigan 153% Salford 178% Tameside 232% Source: MHCLG, Housing Delivery Test 2025 measurement, published 17 August 2026. Graphic by Stockport Today
Six of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs delivered more homes than required. Stockport delivered the fewest, and is the only one of the ten below the 75% presumption threshold.

Stockport is not merely last in Greater Manchester, it is last by a distance. The next lowest is Manchester on 75%, then Trafford on 83% and Bolton on 87%. The other six boroughs all exceeded their requirement, led by Tameside on 232%, Salford on 178% and Wigan on 153%.

Nationally the picture is less lonely. Of the 301 local planning authorities with a percentage in the published table, 93 fall below 75% and face the presumption. Stockport ranks 27th lowest in England, in a group otherwise dominated by tightly bounded southern authorities such as Castle Point, Portsmouth and Southend-on-Sea, all of which scored under 21%.

Stockport has been planning a Local Plan since 2017

Part of the reason the presumption bites so hard here is that Stockport has no up to date plan for the inspector to weigh against it. The borough’s adopted development plan is the Stockport Core Strategy of March 2011, which covers the period only to 2026, together with saved policies from the Unitary Development Plan Review of May 2006 (Stockport Council).

A replacement has been in preparation for nine years. The council’s Local Development Scheme, approved by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Economy and Environment on 2 July 2026, records an issues paper consulted on between July and October 2017 and a draft Local Plan consultation held from November to December 2025. The remaining timetable is:

  • September to November 2026: publication stage consultation
  • December 2026: submission to the Secretary of State
  • Spring 2027: examination in public
  • Winter 2027/2028: adoption

That is the council’s own published programme (Stockport Local Development Scheme, July 2026). On it, Stockport will not have an adopted Local Plan for another 18 months at best. The council blames national churn. Its scheme states that repeated changes to the National Planning Policy Framework have had “significant implications for how several key planning issues are addressed in Stockport, causing uncertainty and, consequently, delay to local plan-making activity”, and that draft elements held for years have had to be revisited more than once.

The draft Local Plan consultation closed on 21 December 2025 and the council says it is still assessing the comments received (Stockport Council).

The action plan the test requires

Falling below 95% obliges a council to publish an action plan setting out how it will increase delivery. The only Housing Delivery Test action plan on Stockport Council’s website is the one written after the February 2020 results, when the borough scored 74%, or 2,127 homes out of 2,856. That page was last updated on 19 January 2021 (Stockport Council).

We have found no published action plan responding to the 2024 or 2025 measurements. The council had not issued a statement on the new figures at the time of writing, and we will update this page if one follows.

What it means for you

  • If you are objecting to a housing application, the presumption is now working against you. The council needs a clear and significant balance of harm to refuse, and a developer refused permission has a stronger case at appeal.
  • If you are a developer or landowner, the reverse is true, and it stays true until the borough climbs back above 75% or adopts a plan.
  • If you want a say in where homes go, the publication stage consultation on the Local Plan is due between September and November this year. That is the last formal chance to comment before the plan is submitted in December.
  • The numbers to hold the council to are 1,097 homes required in 2024-25 against 351 delivered. Next year’s measurement covers 2023-24 to 2025-26, so this year’s building rate decides whether the presumption lifts.

Sources