Following the Government’s announcement of a new planning framework, which will allow developers to bypass elected local councillors and requires councils to review green-belt land,
Wokingham MP Clive Jones has called on Labour to stop “ignoring local communities by enforcing template solutions which won’t deliver for areas like Wokingham”.
Wokingham has exceeded targets for new development over the past years, with the previous Conservative administration delivering 2,000 more houses than required, and the borough’s new local plan will deliver more new housing in a sustainable way.
The government’s belief that the planning system needs to bypass elected local councillors in Wokingham is wrong. Wokingham neither needs nor wants a universal solution which removes democratic control.
He said the lack of affordable housing in Wokingham will not be solved simply by targets.
He said: “Wokingham needs more genuinely affordable development, which is only achievable if it is community led and not dictated from Whitehall.
“Local politicians are democratically elected to make decisions on housing and local services.
“To support this, the government needs to properly fund local services like GPs, schools and sustainable transport alongside new homes. The Conservative government failed to provide for GPs, dentists or pharmacies in major developments and their mismanagement of privatised utilities and public services continues to wreck our precious natural environment.
“Labour cannot ignore these issues alongside dealing with the nationwide housing shortage.
“The most effective way to deliver homes at the pace we need is to have local communities on board.
“That way, we can build homes to help solve the care crisis, aid vulnerable families who are living in temporary accommodation, and better support younger generations.
“It is clear that Britain is in a housing crisis, but this announcement does not address the root problems facing communities such as Wokingham – a desperate lack of social housing.
“The government must recognise that communities are best placed to deliver the homes and services we need.”
