Councillor ‘suspicious’ of government planning shake-up

THE chair of Westbury Town Council’s planning committee has said that he is ‘suspicious’ of proposed changes to the planning system in England by the UK government.

Clr Ian Cunningham has raised concerns that the changes could reduce the town council’s already ‘limited’ influence on planning in the local area.

“I strongly believe that local considerations don’t have enough priority as is,” said cllr Cunningham.

The councillor has spoken out in response to a proposed shake-up by the government to the planning system, which could see new homes given ‘automatic’ permission to be built on  land that has been designated as a ‘growth area’.

Industry experts have warned that the changes could lead to ‘bad-quality housing’ and loss of local control.

Other proposed changes include: all new homes to be carbon-neutral by 2050; all new streets to be tree-lined; a ‘protected’ category for areas of outstanding natural beauty and the green belt; and the introduction of a national charge for developers to fund projects such as schools, roads and GP surgeries, and a fixed proportion of affordable homes in a development, replacing the existing Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) – financial contributions made by developers towards the cost of supporting infrastructure, normally given to the local council for that area.

Cllr Ian Cunningham told White Horse News, “I haven’t had an opportunity to study in detail the suggestions for the new planning regime and I am not by any means either a lawyer or a planning expert, but my initial reactions are as follows.

“I don’t agree with the government’s basic premise that planning proceeds too slowly or that there is a significant problem in the planning system with bringing forward housing – even Wiltshire’s current loss of its five year land supply is in part due to rapid building rather than failing to deliver. 

“Most studies suggest that there are over 1,000,000 houses in the UK that already have planning permission but have not yet been built (Source LGA www.local.gov.uk/housing-backlog-more-million-homes-planning-permission-not-yet-built). I believe much of the delay in development is down to a desire to keep prices rising and a reluctance for developers to build developments where they are required to provide affordable homes. 

“In my experience, the planning system already does insufficiently to protect local interests as has been shown many times in Westbury and at first glance these changes would seem to further reduce our limited rights to influence planning locally. 

“Last year’s updates to the National Planning Policy Framework have already meant that some councils who worked hard to produce their Neighbourhood Plan have found that even 2 years after they were adopted by local referendum, developers are arguing to overturn them. 

“I think that too much is in developers’ favour – for example, the UK currently build some of the smallest houses in Europe but they are also amongst the least affordable. 

“Looking specifically at Robert Jenrick’s (the Minister) core proposals, and I stress here these are personal opinions and certainly not the opinion of the town council, I rather fear that I may not be overly cynical to suggest that they may turn out as follows:

“Land will be designated in one of three categories: for ‘growth’ – rich people/party donors own it; for ‘renewal’ – poor people live there but not densely enough or they need to be moved out); for ‘protection’ – our voters have “nice” homes here.

“Time and more detail will tell and I hope that I am wrong, but I think recent history suggests that a little cynicism around this minister’s planning approach in particular, and the current government in general, may not be misplaced.”