Local plans are always controversial and unfortunately always cause upset and dismay to some existing residents. I wish that could be avoided, but sadly it cannot be. We have no choice but to deliver the housing numbers required of us by government and wherever we allocate land to accommodate them will be unpopular with those who live nearby.
Our site selection was based on the draft plan we inherited from the previous administration, which we subjected to further rigorous assessment. The final choice was determined by site availability – the sites promoted to us by landowners; site suitability – determined by national and local policies and technical appraisals; and site deliverability – whether a site could provide the required number of dwellings in the plan period.
With a new local plan approved by council, we can look forward to some important benefits. A new secondary school in the south of the borough, where it is most needed; the opportunity for a reduction of flood risk; a large new country park; more Affordable Homes for members of our community who desperately need them; energy efficient new homes that will save residents money and help them lead healthier lives; the highest level of protection against development in over a hundred Local Green Spaces; areas of Valued Landscapes across the borough where development can be controlled. All these and more are within our reach now the new local plan has been approved.
Approving the new plan also gives us the opportunity to proceed on the current numbers we are required to deliver – 748 dwellings a year, rather than the 1,308 a year that the new government is saying we should deliver in the future.
If the opposition had succeeded in delaying approval, as they sought to do last Thursday, we would have had missed the opportunity to benefit from the government’s transitional arrangements and would have had to begin work on a completely new plan, with the higher numbers, straightaway.
With the new plan approved, we can prepare for the challenges of future higher numbers in a more considered way. We also have the best chance to protect the borough from prolonged and intense exposure to speculative development and the inadequate infrastructure that usually comes with it.
Without our new plan, we would be subject to a great deal of unplanned development and in most cases be powerless to stop it.
I was disappointed to see the Conservative opposition behaving so inconsistently – nearly all the development sites in the plan were put in by the previous Conservative administration. Their amendment taking out sites but offering no replacements, was breathtakingly irresponsible. Their proposal that officers go away and come back with a new plan in two weeks lacked all credibility. A substantial change would require a further consultation on the new draft before it came back to council for approval. That would take many months. We would miss the transitional arrangements deadline and have to accommodate the higher numbers.
My thanks to those councillors, of all parties, who saw the big picture, behaved responsibly, and recognized that we had no option but to approve the local plan presented last Thursday.
Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
