Council objects to planning plan

A PROPOSAL from the government to shake-up the planning systemhas been opposed by Wokingham Borough Council.

The consultation has now closed, but before it did, council leader John Halsall sent off the borough’s objections.

The council argues that the Planning For The Futurewhite paper would “fundamentally” change the way the planning system operates, and see a one-size-fits-all national system introduced that would frontload public consultation and detailed assessments to produce faster local plans.

But Wokingham Borough Council feels that the Government is looking towards the wrong target.

“The Government has committed to building 300,000 new homes per year across England,” said council leader John Halsall.

“As that is not happening, the planning system is being blamed.

“The planning system is complicated and cumbersome, but councils do not, in the main, build houses. Developers do and will only build when it’s profitable for them to do so. The government’s proposed changes do not address that.”

He lodged his objection during an individual executive member decision meeting, which was made on Tuesday, October 27.

Joining him in disagreeing with the white paper was Cllr Wayne Smith, WokinghamBorough Council’s executive member for planning and enforcement. He said: “If these proposals go through as they currently are, they would do lasting damage toWokinghamborough.

“They would take away so much of our ability to plan growthwhere it makes sense locally – to put the right homes in the right places – and standardise those powers across the country.

“That means that we would be following the same rules for places as diverse as a busy London borough that is fully built out, a rural district that is all countryside and a coastal area that is a tourist destination.

“These places are all so different and we need to be able to make decisions about our future at a local level.”

It follows the council’s objection to government’s other ‘ changes to the planning system’ proposals last month – which outlined plans to see Wokingham take double the number of homes built in the borough each year to 1,635.

The council argued that the Government’s ideas to boost housing would not compel developers to build more homes or speed up build rates because this would drive down prices and it is not in their interests to do so.

“We have already objected to the calculation that would more than double the number of houses we need to build in the borough every year and nowwe are objecting to the other proposals which would reduce our ability to manage development,” Cllr Halsall said.

“We currently have one of the highest community infrastructure levy rates which means that developers pay for the infrastructure their new communities need – the roads, schools, shops, parks and open spaces, the sports facilities and community centres.

“The government is proposing to set that levy nationally, whichwould almost certainly result in a significantly lower rate, whichwould render us powerless to make developers pay for necessary infrastructure.”

Cllr Smith added: “We would also end up with far fewer affordable houses. We make developers have on average about 35% of what they build as affordable, which has made such a difference to helping our residents climb onto the housing ladder.

“The proposals reduce what we could achieve locally.”