Council should be doing what residents want

Viewpoint last week had two interesting letters.

One from Andrew Hill clearly explained the problem underlying the ongoing problems with the BLP.

The plan bases its need for housing on 2102 population data that is hopelessly out of date with population growth predictions that have not materialised.

The OAN Mr Hill references – and the two re-visits made by Cllr Coppinger’s department to this topic in 2016 and 2019 – hopelessly overstate the housing need in the borough.

In project planning terms seen as best practice in industry this would be recognised as the fatal flaw of ‘RIRO’ – rubbish in, rubbish out.

The BLP is, fundamentally, unsound.

The second letter from council leader Andrew Johnson was a plaintive cry for ‘deliverable solutions and alternatives’.

Try this:

Withdraw the existing BLP and start again, this time using accurate and up-to-date inputs and allowing proper time for review and comment by the public (this was a slog last time – remember the comment period over Christmas holidays in 2016?).

Ensure the new BLP respects and implements the climate emergency principles already adopted by the council.

With an almost certain lower OAN for housing in a new BLP, the council could stop building even more (unwanted) flats on the Magnet site and use it to develop affordable 2-3 bed townhouses on the site.

There may be a case to use some of the existing golf course site nearest the town centre in the same way, retaining the bulk of the golf course as the laudable Great Park for us all.

The borough should be building homes residents need and want – not allowing developers to control the agenda.

This may not help bail the council out of its budget problem – probably the main driver for selling the golf course in the first place – but it is time our council started doing what residents want not what is expedient to correct their previous, myriad, blunders.

Longer term of course the solution is to elect independent councillors free from central office party dogma who are willing to actually do what residents want.

Our local Lib Dems offer no solution; I could never vote for a party with principles that allow them to embrace a rejected Tory councillor with a nefarious past into their fold, avoiding a by-election.

If RBWM residents want change and real democracy they will have to fight for it.

In the meantime let’s hope Cllr Johnson sees sense and acts to save our borough. MICK JARVIS

Riverside