The Government is wrong to snatch decision-making over house building away from communities - Penny Stables
The Government’s decision to wade into the Planning Process in an attempt to rocket boost house building is going to backfire. They have made a number of major changes to the planning system which will not provide the homes that are needed across the UK.
They have reduced the power of local authorities, using Planning Panels with democratically elected members, to make decisions as to whether local developments are passed, and created a centralised system where if a local authority rejects a planning application for over 150 homes the decision will now automatically be sent to the Secretary of State who has the power to overturn the decision.
This is taking away democracy, ruling from the centre, on what will ultimately have massive impacts on local areas. Politicians sat in ivory towers in London, who have no idea what impact their decisions will have on local communities. There should always be local consultation on major developments, only local people really understand what the impact will be, and they have to live with the consequences.
The Government has also increased housing allocations, with no thought as to how deliverable these numbers are, and what local impact this will have. Large swathes of our countryside will disappear in some of the most beautiful parts of the UK. And for what? For developers to make massive profits at the expense of the country as whole.
In Wetherby we see this playing out right now before eyes. Our own Leeds City Council is in the fortunate position that they have a five-year land supply, and a Housing Allocation that is deliverable by building ‘up’ in the city centre. High rise blocks of flats can deliver hundreds of homes and take up very little land. This has reduced the burden on the smaller settlements in the Leeds area.
However, for North Yorkshire it’s a different story. Their Housing Allocation has increased from 1,600 homes a year to 4,300, an increase of nearly threefold overnight, with no advance notification and no time to make a new Local Plan and create a viable strategy for increased housing supply. The sheer size of this allocation is not deliverable, without carving up massive areas of beautiful Yorkshire countryside, and damaging local communities.
So, what is the impact of this? Developers are now queuing up around the border of Wetherby to build in North Yorkshire, as they know that until there is a new Local Plan, it will be very difficult for the local authority to refuse the applications.
The area that was protected by Green Belt status has in many parts been downgraded to ‘Grey Belt’, removing protection. This opens up areas that have previously been very difficult to build on, protecting towns from urban sprawl. In Wetherby, we now know that developers have set their sights on a ‘Wetherby Urban Expansion plan’, that would bring around 5,000 new homes north of Wetherby, filling the gap between the edge of the town and the neighbouring village of Kirk Deighton.
This would be building in North Yorkshire, and although the new residents would consider themselves as residents of Wetherby, and would use the nearby schools, GPs, library, leisure centre, shops and services; they would pay their Council Tax to North Yorkshire. This makes no sense in any way.
It would mean that Wetherby would double in size, as it only has around 11,000 residents currently. The road system, built hundreds of years ago in the conservation area in the centre of the town and not designed for cars, would frequently become grid locked. Wetherby has no train nor tram, and the bus service lacks frequency and connectivity across the border to places like York, where people work, go to college, and have appointments at the hospital.
I agree that we need to provide more homes but it needs to be done in a planned way with infrastructure in place before people move in. We need more school places; more GPs and we need a sustainable public transport system that is fit for purpose. We need the right type of homes, in the right places, at the right price. In Wetherby we need more retirement living homes, so that older people are able to downsize and release family homes for families; and we need affordable starter homes, so that our young people can afford to live here.
Developers want to build what will deliver the highest profit. That means they will always have a preference to build large detached houses on green field sites. That is simply not what we need.
On the edge of Wetherby, we have a massive new housing estate being built called Swinnow Park. This is not in a sustainable location, as it has almost no public transport links, so everyone will have to get into their cars to drive into the town for everything. The developers have started building last year, but it is on a go-slow build-out, as there is very little demand for these houses. So why is that? Is it the wrong location, the wrong kind of homes or is the price point wrong?
I am told that this is happening across many areas of North Yorkshire too - and meanwhile we have thousands of homes with planning permission not being built. Why? Because developers are holding off as prices continue to rise.
So, the issue is not the Planning System, it’s the disconnect between what developers want to build to maximise profit, and what residents in each local area need and can afford.
That's why it’s so wrong for the Government to snatch decision-making away from local communities. It's communities who must shape development - not developers chasing profit, and Ministers making decisions miles away from Whitehall.
Penny Stables is a Green Party councillor representing Wetherby.