HORSHAM DISTRICT HOUSEHOLDS
A household is defined as a family or group of people living together in the same dwelling and share a communal living area and/or share at least one meal a day. The number of dwellings will therefore be slightly different to the number of households. For example, a vacant property and second homes may not be included in the number of households as they may be vacant for much of the year.
According to WSCC projections published in 2000, there will be 51,130 households in the District in 2002 rising to around 52,800 by 2006.
The average household size in the District was 2.43 people in 1991 and is estimated at 2.39 in 2002 and 2.34 in 2006.
In 1991 census records show that around 38% of all households in the District live in detached accommodation, 27% live in semi-detached and almost 19% live in terraced accommodation. The remaining 16% live in flats, bedsits and non-permanent accommodation.
'Revising the West Sussex Structure Plan - Public Consultation Document: The Choices Ahead' - May 2000 stated that Horsham District should accommodate 12,000 dwellings in the period 1996-2011, a high number in comparison to neighbouring local authorities. However, in fact the effect of the recently released draft Structure Plan to 2016 is that a total of just over 9,300 houses would be built in the District between 2001 and 2016. This is 2,700 fewer dwellings than the figure given in the County Council strategy document "The Choices Ahead".
The Horsham District Local Plan, which covers the period to 2004, identifies sites where new dwellings can be built and when, during a specified time period, this should occur. For further details please refer to this document.
Only those parishes where there was a sample size greater than 100 are included in the above graph.
Source: Report of the 1999 Housing Needs Survey, Horsham District Council.
The total number of households in housing need in the District is 2,590. Housing need is made up of existing households (those whose housing is unsuitable), concealed households (a person living with a host, often parents, who will require their own home within five years) and homeless households.
About 6.2% of the households in Horsham are overcrowded. A further 35.4% are under-occupied.