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IT APPEARS that the government is not taking seriously a threat by the leader of the council to protest naked unless housing numbers in Wokingham borough are reduced. And it’s left Cllr John Halsall ‘gobsmacked’.
Last week, the government released a new white paper calling for changes to the planning system to make it easier for housing to be built.
This, Wokingham Borough Council argues, will mean the yearly housing target will more than double, seeing more than 1,600 homes constructed every year, something it feels is ‘completely unacceptable’.
Under the white paper put forward by Robert Jenrick, initiatives include quicker development and creating zones: categorising land into growth, renewal or protection.
Areas that are labeled as growth are expected to have outline planning permission in place that would allow developers to create housing without councils debating the principle of the scheme.
Homes in the renewal areas will have automatic pre-approval from permitted development rights.
Another local plan needed?
Councils will have to create a new style local plan that will see councils lose ability to set local policies – housing targets would be set by central government using a standard method for calculating housing need.
And they will also see the end of the Section 106 developer contributions scheme that earmarks money for social housing and community infrastructure such as the new relief roads currently being built in the borough.
All of this flies in the face of a consultation of borough residents last year that saw almost a third of the borough’s population reject more housing numbers.
And at a council meeting last month, councillors from across the political divides came together to agree a motion calling on government ministers to come and visit Wokingham borough, meeting residents, parish councillors and borough councillors to hear first hand how the existing developments are causing problems across Wokingham.
During his speech supporting the motion, the leader of the council, John Halsall, threatened to protest naked in Whitehall if government continued to ignore Wokingham residents’ wishes.
Council leader calls plan utterly unnacceptable
Responding to the white paper proposals, Cllr Halsall said: “We’re outraged and disgusted at these government proposals which would see the amount of new housing more than double across the Wokingham Borough to 1,635 per year.
“This is completely and utterly unacceptable. Not only is our current annual figure of 789 far too high but Wokingham in the last 20 years has taken on more than its fair share of new houses.
“This isn’t just us as a council questioning this level imposed by central government, 95% of our residents told us in a far-reaching survey last year they’re also against future developments.
“The perverse and bizarre methodology used to calculate the new housing rates in the White Paper are penalising those authorities like us which have already been delivering high numbers of new housing. It assumes we can continue in this way. We cannot. Our infrastructure and communities cannot and should not bear this burden.
“For the past two years we’ve been campaigning to Ministers to see sense. As they haven’t, we’ll continue the fight and do everything in our power so our residents don’t suffer from these crippling targets.”
He added: “We’ve done everything we can to encourage dialogue with ministers to get a situation where there will be fewer houses built in the borough, so to get a number that is more than double? It’s disappointing.
“And the ideas of scrapping Section 106 money and instead centralise the payments? We have the the highest levels and these will be averaged out, so the CIL payments will be massively down.
“It means more homes and less infrastructure. I can’t let it rest there.”
‘The Governement is planning to double our housing budget’
Cllr Wayne Smith, executive member for planning and enforcement at Wokingham Borough Council said: “The government’s proposed new housing targets for Wokingham Borough are mystifying and very disappointing. It is proposing more than double the current annual housing need in our borough, which itself is already far too high.
“This consultation proposes changes to the standard method for calculating the number of new homes to be built in each local authority. It is purposely designed to reach the government’s national target of delivering 300,000 homes a year.
“We will be responding to the government consultation in detail, as there are issues with the government’s new method and if it is approved it will rigorously be imposed by central government in the new planning system.
“The proposed standard method is highly reliant on national population and household projections. These are known to be subject to error and are heavily influenced by short term trends in house building. With recent housebuilding at an historical high in the borough, the method assumes this must continue. In local authorities where house building has been lower, this is also assumed to continue.
“The changes proposed to the standard method means the borough’s new annual housing need would be calculated at 1,635 and not the current figure of 789 under the existing method.
‘We’re victims of our own success’
“It penalises authorities like us which have already been delivering high numbers of new housing as dictated by central government despite our ongoing campaign to ministers that it’s already way too high. We’ve unwittingly become victims of our own success in doing what the government’s planning rules require.
“Most of our neighbouring authorities would only see small increases in their housing levels using this new method, with one actually seeing a decrease.
“This proposal would continue to concentrate growth in London and the south east, with the midlands and the north subject to much smaller increases, and in many cases significant decreases within cities in those areas.
“There is no pause for thought about aligning housing requirements with the government’s investment in infrastructure, proposals to geographically rebalance the national economy, or any sense check on local impacts of the proposed changes. This is inherently unfair on our residents, our businesses and our communities in the borough.”
Does this mean development in the Green Belt?
This view was echoed by Lib Dem deputy leader, Cllr Clive Jones, who said: “From what I read, it’s a charter for developers to do exactly what they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, without any consultations with residents at all.
“It must be remembered that it’s coming from a Conservative government. Councillors might not be happy, but it is their government that are doing this.”
He added: “We might end up with 1,600 new homes a year – that will just be a disaster. We already say that 800 is too many. It should be below 600. Without any sort of control where homes are going, they could end up in Remenham and Barkham, two areas the Tories have been trying to protect.”
Wokingham MP supports new planning reform
But Wokingham MP Sir John Redwood has come out in favour of the plans. He wrote on his blog: “There is much to support in the Planning White Paper … Speedier decisions, Local Plans only one third of the current length and a simpler approach to an Infra-structure levy or contribution on developers are all welcome.
“The government should also as part of this policy exercise improve its control of our borders and set a sustainable figure for economic migrants as past Conservative governments did or promised to do, to ease some of the development pressures.”
During the general election, campaign, Robert Jenrick told Wokingham.Today: “We have to strike the right balance between getting homes built, and respecting communities’ wishes because all of us want to live in a country where young people can get on the housing ladder and can enjoy all of the pride and sense of security that comes with owning your own property.”
