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A growing rebellion among conservative councilors threatens the government’s plans to speed up house building in England, and six in ten believe the reforms will make planning less democratic.
A poll into the hearts of conservatives has revealed that party representatives are resisting ministers’ plans to dramatically increase housing targets in electoral strongholds like Hampshire and Surrey and are rejecting attempts to eliminate planning committees. of routine decision making.
Conservative leaders in councils are becoming increasingly vocal in their opposition to plans they fear could result in the countryside consolidating in search of housing and central voters abandoning them in disgust.
Martin Tett, the Conservative leader of the Buckinghamshire council, told The Guardian that demands for an additional 1,000 houses to be built a year in his country were “undesirable and undeliverable,” while John Halsall, the leader of the Wokingham council, he said the proposals were “a great political danger.” . An internal Winchester council presentation seen by The Guardian cautions that the proposals are “clearly designed to reduce [the] number and type of decisions taken locally ”.
The concern is reflected in a survey this month by Savanta Comres of conservative councilors, which leans toward those who sit on planning committees, which found that 61% believe that proposed reforms announced in August would make planning less democratic.
It was conducted on behalf of BECG, a planning communications company, and showed that 70% of Conservative councilors want to increase the size of the green belt, which appears to go against the government’s proposals that farms and Unprotected open land could be zoned for construction.
Andrew Howard, managing director of the firm, said: “If the government is to fulfill its commitment to fundamentally reform the planning system, it will have to go to great lengths to win over the conservative councilors who provide the basis for its membership of the electoral association of the parliament and that they clearly value their role in monitoring development. “
The poll also found that two-thirds of all councilors, including Labor, Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents, believe that most consultations with the public should take place on a proposal-by-proposal basis rather than when designing comprehensive local plans. , as proposed in the planning white paper published last month.
The planning reforms were unveiled in August by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick and immediately drew strong criticism. Under the proposals, planning applications based on previously approved “design codes” would get automatic green light, eliminating an entire stage of local supervision within designated zones. Land in England would be divided into three categories – for growth, renovation or protection – under what Jenrick described as “once in a generation” changes to sweep away an outdated planning system and drive construction.
But the proposals were immediately condemned by the Urban and Rural Planning Association as disruptive and hasty, and RIBA President Alan Jones described them as creating “the next generation of slum housing.”
The government’s parallel proposal to use an algorithm to set new housing targets in local areas to meet an annual national home-building target of 333,000 new homes has caused great concern. Analysis by Lichfields, a planning consultancy, of the proposed method has shown that strong increases are expected in many conservative hearts. In Chichester, West Sussex, the annual target would increase from 425 to 1,120, in Reigate, Surrey it would increase from 460 to 1,091 while at Tonbridge in Kent it would increase from 425 to 1,440.
“If they stick with the algorithm they are using right now, there will be more construction on new land and less on abandoned land in northern cities and that’s a real concern,” said Cllr David Renard, Conservative leader of the Swindon council and Local planning spokesperson. Planning Spokesperson for the Government Association. “What the local government would like to see are numbers based on local needs rather than some algorithm imposing numbers from above. We hope that the government will modify its proposals. The planning system can be improved and we don’t think it’s the right way to do it. “
The algorithm has proposed cuts to housing targets in many northern areas, including Lancaster, Preston, and Blackburn with Darwen.
The Halsall area of Wokingham, Berkshire, has been told that its current target of 600 new homes per year will increase to 1,635, which it said was “very unpopular.”
“We are a rural and semi-rural area and our population has doubled in the last 20 years so the whole world suffers from congestion, development noise, rationing of medical services that [voters] attribute to the volume of development, ”he said. “It’s crazy in terms of planning and crazy in political terms.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government described the opposition as “wrong” and said that community participation and control are at the center of the revision of an “outdated planning system”.
“While the local housing needs proposals provide guidance for city councils, they will still need to consider local circumstances in deciding how many houses should be delivered in their areas,” they said. “We are consulting the proposals and we will reflect on the comments we receive in order to deliver the homes we need, where we need them.”
On Wednesday, parliament will vote a Labor motion against a change in the planning rule to allow apartment block owners to extend without applying for full planning permission.
