Last week was a bad one for Government ministers – struggling with the numbers.
In Housing, Robert Jenrick had side-stepped numbers completely, launching his Planning Reforms with an algorithm to hide bad news from voters and policy-speak to hide the replacement of local planning authorities with centralised control, giving Permitted Development for just about anything developers want to build.
‘Plan A’ – The Local Plan
Back around 2010, David Lee (Conservative) as leader authorised the “Core Strategy” which, together with “Managing Development Delivery” authorised by Keith Baker (Conservative) as leader in 2014, became WBC’s Local Plan. Wokingham’s housing “number” was 623 per annum.
More recently, under John Halsall’s (Conservative) leadership, the bid to get £250 million, of the circa £1,250 million needed to develop Grazeley, collapsed when the Ministry rejected WBC’s new Local Plan.
But the new housing algorithm is alleged to have (roughly) doubled Wokingham’s number. This halves the five year land supply, and without an up-to-date local plan, Wokingham has no powers to manage development location under the current system or the new one.
Leaving the vultures circling overhead…
The germ of an Idea
As even the dimmest government minister has learned, if you have to build LOTS of houses, the only way is UP, and the Planning Reforms celebrate UP as Permitted Development – no planning permission needed.
Our Councillors having all failed to win over Whitehall, they clearly need help, but getting MPs properly focused and motivated is tricky.
Two clear lessons from history, The Great Stink (1858) and the Great Flood (1953), show us that the best way to convince MPs to make a difference is for events happen in, or threaten, their own back yards.
… So here’s ‘Plan B’
For developers, the simplest way of keeping land costs down and using the new freedoms in Mr Jenrick’s Planning Reforms is to put in some higher density housing.
The nearest place that does this well is New York and of all the high rise projects, one that stands out is Co-op city in the Bronx – a well spaced complex of 24- to 33-storey buildings containing just over 15,300 homes.
However, because Wokingham’s number has doubled, we’re going to need twice as many houses as the old Grazeley ‘Plan A’, so we’re going to want not one but two places for Wokingham’s Co-op Cities.
Fortunately, there’s two really nice locations and the first one’s around South Sonning, North Woodley and West Charvil.
The second one’s around Wick Hill, Finchampstead Ridges, Simon’s Wood and Lower Wokingham Road.
Guarding against Downsides
Observing Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee meetings over the past few years, I’ve learned from council officers that if you bring forward developments at a rate of 150 homes at a time, the local road networks can cope.
Likewise, they’re always approving the cutting down of mature trees, on the basis that the developer plants a few saplings here and there as token replacements.
So even if Mr Jenrick’s Planning Reform doesn’t quite manage to do away with local control, ‘Plan B’ should still squeak by – on appeal if needed.
Plus, the North Woodley area is right by the new Crossrail line, so that’ll save some development cost too, as car parking won’t be needed and ‘mode shift’, from car to rail, will suffice instead.
So what does this all mean?
‘Plan B’ means that two of Wokingham Borough’s MPs will be guaranteed a fine view of the Co-op cities. Particularly as their homes would be surrounded by the tower blocks.
Once they’ve recognised the threat that the Planning Reforms pose to their own backyards (literally), one suspects that ‘motivation’ may not be long in coming.
Our two MPs will be in good company – as they’ve got 107 Conservative colleagues including the PM and Home Secretary whose boroughs are worse affected than ours is and whose very own ‘Plan B’s can provide matching motivation.
And with a government majority of ‘only 80’, those 107 colleagues might just give the Borough’s two MPs a fighting chance.
The Last Word
It’s heartwarming to note that the last Councillor to successfully negotiate with Whitehall was Cllr Cowan under David Lee’s and Keith Baker’s leadership, so it might be an idea for King John to stop squabbling with him and start listening to him.
Before he has to explain to the Borough’s MPs why the Planning Reforms make ‘Plan B’ not only possible but inevitable.
Especially as one of them is alleged to have a view that “Planning is a local matter which I don’t get involved in”.
And you couldn’t get much more local than your own backyard (or woods, golf course, rugby pitch, naturist club, open fields etc), could you?
