AI could help decide where to build 5,400 homes

Artificial intelligence is being trialled as a tool to help district councillors decide where to build 5,400 homes by 2041.

Forest of Dean district councillors are under pressure from the government to deliver 597 homes a year, a number that was increased in summer 2024 from 330 a year.

Council leader Adrian Birch said the authority had tasked an AI company with a research project to first see if the technology could be relied upon.

He said he wanted to speed up decision processes, telling a council meeting: "If we can trust the AI to get it right then we will look at whether that is a feasible option."

The district council, under its plan for 2021 to 2041, had already been planning to build 6,600 homes when the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government stepped in last year with new targets that it made mandatory.

The demands meant that the council had to build an extra 5,400 homes – 12,000 in total by 2041.

Locations for many of the 6,600 homes have already been mapped out, mainly in Lydney, Beachley and Newent.

The search for locations for the extra 5,400 properties means old ideas have been revived, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

These include creating a garden town between the A40 and A48 near Churcham and a new settlement off junction 2 of the M50 near Redmarley.

Mr Birch told councillors: "We are trialling some AI support on this which will see if it provides the information we need."

He said the AI company had been asked to assess public responses to the council's local plan consultation last summer.

"We will then be comparing our results with their results," he said.

He said the use of AI would be reviewed if there were any doubts.

The council voted unanimously to review its 2021 to 2041 local plan and explore alternative strategic options for housing.

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