Don’t let planning’s ‘dodgy’ algorithm ruin Yorkshire’s countryside – Andrew Vine

A couple of young relatives of mine are typical of countless others. Property prices constantly move tantalisingly out of reach, and the battering the economy is suffering means there is no certainty of keeping their jobs and being able to pay a mortgage if they stay in work.

They and others like them are the human faces of this country’s housing shortage, especially of affordable homes to give the young a chance of escaping the rental treadmill or having to live with parents.

Boris Johnson floated the idea of state-supported mortgages at the weekend to help young people like this, even though it raised immediate concerns of taxpayers being burdened with even more long-term debt. But those concerns pale beside the threat posed by the Government’s principal policy for addressing the housing shortage – reforming planning laws in such a ham-fisted way that vast swathes of our countryside could be concreted over.

On Thursday, the Government is likely to face fierce criticism from its own MPs in a debate over the reforms, which ought to be ringing alarm bells for all of us in Yorkshire.

Last week, a report from the Council for the Protection of Rural England revealed that they could lead to vast developments in the countryside, whilst towns and cities don’t get the new homes they need. One of the areas singled out was rural Richmondshire, which could be hit by a tenfold increase in housebuilding.

That’s unacceptable, and so is the notion that other stretches of Yorkshire countryside, which is one of our county’s greatest glories, might be gobbled up by developers because of flawed Government policy.

And the flaw is wearisomely familiar. An algorithm used to calculate which parts of Britain are earmarked for 300,000 new homes is being blamed, which demonstrates that the Government has learned nothing from the A-level results fiasco of the summer.

Then, it was an algorithm that threw thousands of students’ hopes and plans into chaos. Now, another could blight rural landscapes. That must be put right before the damage is done.

Besides, covering green spaces with housing will do little to help young people buy a home of their own. If developers are given carte blanche to build houses in attractive rural areas, they will be targeted at affluent buyers who can afford stunning views, not couples just starting out.

The proposed planning reforms are a mess. Boris Johnson has trumpeted that they will get new homes built, but that ignores the fact that councils have dealt with planning issues sensitively and sensibly since the legislation was introduced in 1947.

This is about stripping control from councils – in urban areas as well as the countryside – and that’s bad news when the overwhelming mood in Yorkshire favours us determining what happens on our patch.

That means having the final say over what is built, and where, based on local and regional knowledge, taking into account the views of residents who would be affected.

In my corner of Yorkshire, there was a row a few years ago over the proposed development of a former sports ground that had evolved into a treasured space for the community. Developers wanted to build housing on it in the face of protests, and in the end it was the wisdom of councillors – advised by expert planning officers – that came up with a sensible compromise by limiting the number of new homes and preserving the rest of the land as a park.

If the Government gets its way, the ability of local authorities to settle such disputes for the benefit of all would be hampered. That can’t be right.

Yes, there is an indisputable need for more homes in Yorkshire, especially those which are within reach of first-time buyers.

The need for them in rural communities is particularly acute. Our market towns and villages know only too well that shortages are at the heart of a cycle of decline, in which the loss of young people to cities in search of work and somewhere to live hollows out the population.

But concreting over the countryside isn’t the answer, and for towns and cities, nor is stampeding local control of what is built.

The Government needs to listen to its own MPs this week, and press the delete button on any algorithm that threatens harm to some of the most glorious landscapes anywhere in Britain.

Then it should go back to the drawing board on how to provide vitally-needed housing, especially for the young. And listening to local communities must be at the heart of its plans.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson