Council in U-turn on ‘inflated’ target for new homes

YORKSHIRE’S BIGGEST council has made a U-turn on its controversial housing targets, slashing projections of new homes needed in the city over the next decade by 21 per cent.

Leeds City Council originally predicted it needed to build 70,000 new homes by 2028, a figure backed up by an independent Government inspector.

But after a major review involving community groups and housebuilders among others, it admits the number may now be slashed to 55,000. The timescale for the revised target would also be 2033 – five years longer – to take account of updated projections.

The climbdown comes after years of debate, and a host of objections from communities which feared the impact of huge swathes of development, much of it on greenbelt land, on their doorsteps.

The council’s housing bosses today insisted the numbers were always likely to be reviewed, as they were based on supply and demand and the latest available population forecasts. But opposition councillors have slammed the ruling administration for sticking to the “entirely unnecessary” original numbers.

Leeds City Council’s executive member for housing matters, councillor Richard Lewis, said: “The housing figure set out in the Core Strategy was based on evidence at the time and it is important to remember it was endorsed by an independent government inspector following a thorough examination.

“We committed to a review within three years and the latest information and population evidence points to lower and slower growth than was originally forecast.” Andrew Carter, leader of the opposition Conservative group at Leeds Council, had previously described the target as “overinflated”. He said: “They have now had to accept what we have been saying all along. The 70,000 houses were entirely unnecessary and the damage that figure has already done cannot be reversed.”