By Cllr Wayne Smith
Residents across Wokingham Borough have rightly been concerned about development for years. I understand that.
We are a victim of our own success: Wokingham Borough is a fantastic place to live and understandably a lot of people want to move here, enjoy our beautiful country parks, and raise their families in an area with consistently good schools.
Now, this is under threat.
At the last election, planning policy was a major talking point. Liberal Democrat and Independent candidates voiced strong opposition to the numbers of homes the Borough is required to build by Central Government, and they promised to put the brakes on planning applications.
Six months on, and Liberal Democrats are in power supported by their Independent and Labour Coalition Partners.
Instead of stopping development, the opposite is happening.
In a bid to win votes, the Liberals promised to be all things to all people, and now the coalition is dithering and procrastinating. As a result, they have lost control of development across the Borough as appeals against planning decisions are increasing.
They have promised to protect sites including Hall Farm and Rooks Nest among others. I am interested to see how many of these election promises they keep.
Work on the Borough’s Local Plan has been delayed, opening Wokingham Borough up to a free-for-all by developers.
Under the previous Conservative administration, the Council was on track to deliver its new Local Plan by December 2023.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) requires local authorities to outline a five-year supply of specific sites to meet housing needs. Wokingham Borough now no longer has a five-year land supply, making the whole Borough increasingly vulnerable to losing appeals by developers.
As a result of not having sufficient land supply, the wishes of residents will not be taken into consideration.
Planning decisions will be made by the National Planning Inspectorate, based in Bristol.
On top of this, the Council will lose the ability to ensure that necessary roads and local facilities are provided with new housing.
Under the Conservatives, the Council only lost two planning appeals in the last four years. It was only possible for the previous Conservative administration to win these big appeals against developers, such as the 216 home application for Woodcray Meadows, because there was a five-year land supply and a Plan.
The Liberal Democrats’ national policy is no different to the Conservative Government’s policy. Yet, local Liberal Democrat councillors have promised residents that they will lobby the Government to reduce housing numbers.
Since they took office, there has been no progress to back up these words.
By contrast, the previous Conservative administration secured meetings with the Secretary of State and other ministers. We campaigned hard, making the case for our area, and worked with the Government to cut housing targets in half for Wokingham Borough.
The Conservatives believe in protecting our local communities from unsustainable development, which is why we made the tough choices and put together a Local Plan.
Liberal Democrats need to stop blaming others and wake up before it is too late.
Cllr Wayne Smith is shadow executive member for planning and ward member for Hurst
