Housing Targets – Hitting the Bullseye!
If you go back one year, Mr Gove and friends scrapped the compulsory housing target numbers and in one fell swoop, basically every Council either downed tools on their Local Plans or immediately claimed that they are very, very special and definitely don’t need to build any more homes. This was of course driven by c.a. 100 Conservative back bencher MPs who used the housing numbers for electioneering purposes (vote for me and I’ll stop all the housing). Well, of the c.a. 100 MPs as little as three retained their seats… so the NIMBY strategy didn’t work all that well then…
But here is the cheery news! Ms Reeves announced housing targets are back on day three of the new Government and Ms Rayner has been enforcing the targets and generally getting approvals over the line with an absolute iron rod. (And I am going to do a whip round this Christmas to buy her an even bigger and harder iron rod).
Cherwell District Council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve its Local Plan for a ‘regulation 19’ consultation, with 24,587 homes built between 2020 and 2042.
The council's housing target is approximately 57 per cent higher than the district’s housing need, which produces a figure of 15,629 homes over the same period. This also includes numbers from the duty to cooperate with Oxford City Council with Cherwell taking some 4,400 new homes for Oxford. I say, gold stars all round for Cherwell!
Basildon Council’s cabinet voted to launch their Local Plan ‘regulation 18’ consultation. In 2022, they voted to withdraw its Local Plan from examination due to concerns about the level of green belt releases… The Council’s new Local Plan proposes meeting the Government’s proposed housing targets of 1,291 new homes a year, plus a five per cent buffer, equating to 27,111 homes over the plan period. Of these, a minimum of 16,928 homes - 62 per cent of the total - will need to be built on sites currently within the green belt, the plan states. The figure represents a 54 per cent increase on the number of Green Belt homes in the previous draft that was withdrawn.
Then there is the new Milton Keynes Local Plan that contains an absolutely breathtaking 63,000 new homes (and possibly working with the New Towns Commission) and extensive plans for a mass rapid transport system (tram to us ordinary folk). Really inspirational stuff with the Leader of MK, Cllr Pete Marland leading from the front and his vision for MK is ambitious, inspirational and shows what should be done.
Finally, Ms Rayner also wrote to Mayor of London and said she wants 81k new homes from him… City Hall is now working on a new FALP (Further Alterations to the London Plan) that will be exploring height (If you are not going to build high in London, pray where will you?) and looking at the London Green Belt.
It is reassuring to see some Council doing things by the book. Now, if the rest of them could neatly fall in line please!
Until next week,
Henry