We are on course to bring the new Local Plan before the full borough council for approval on 19 September, our next scheduled meeting.
Government requires us to produce a Local Plan to identify where we put the new housing we are obliged to deliver and to update our local planning policies.
Some people are now urging us to delay, including some who until recently were berating us for not moving forward more quickly.
Delay would be a big mistake. It would extend the period when we are exposed to planning by appeal. Until we have a new Local Plan, the current lack of a five-year land supply, which we inherited from the previous administration, increases the risk of speculative developments that we refuse locally going on to gain planning consent at a planning appeal.
It would also expose us to another risk. The new government is about to consult on changes to the planning system, including increasing the number of new dwellings they oblige councils to approve through their Local Plans.
Our best protection against an increase in our housing allocation is to have a new Local Plan approved by council and ready to go on to the final stage of the Local Plan process – the inspector’s enquiry.
I hope, therefore, that councillors of all parties will recognise their responsibilities on 19 September and support the new Local Plan so we can better protect the borough from unsuitable and excessive housing development.
Consensus should be possible, as both the previous Conservative and current Liberal Democrat administrations have worked hard to bring a viable Plan forward.
Work on the new local plan began in 2015, when the Conservatives led the council. Seven years later, in 2022, when they were replaced, the new administration inherited a draft Local Plan that had just been out to public consultation.
Wherever possible, we have improved on that draft, mainly through policies on green spaces, areas of public landscape value, energy efficiency in new homes, and developer contributions for affordable housing.
To make these improvements, we needed to test the viability of new policies, engage with external consultees and allow our legal advisors time to assess the soundness of the plan and its fitness to be presented to the government planning inspector who has the power to approve, or modify, or reject the plan.
While this important work was underway, we lobbied the government for a reduction in our overall housing target, to allow for over-delivery during the current plan period.
Unfortunately, our pleas fell on deaf ears. There is no point in trying again: the new government is clearly determined to maximize housing delivery and there is no prospect of its meeting our request for past over-provision to be taken into account.
We must, therefore, face up to our responsibilities, painful though they are, and press on and approve the new local plan in September. Failure to do so would leave the borough and its residents very exposed.
