Pressure builds for greater say on new homes figure

The leader of Wokingham Borough Council has affirmed his commitment to keep lobbying the Government for a fairer deal on local housing numbers. Cllr Stephen Conway, who took over the role from Cllr Clive Jones in May, says he will maintain his predecessor’s efforts to make the council’s position heard in Government.

The council has long maintained that national planning policy needs reform to make it more transparent, consistent and fair to all parts of the country – and part of this would be a more sensible approach to new housing.

It believes the current system, in which councils must calculate future need based on a mathematical formula, doesn't take individual circumstances into account.

In Wokingham Borough’s case, this imposes highly challenging housing requirements.

Lobbying Government to relieve excessive demand

In his final week as leader Cllr Jones, who remains executive member for business and economic development, sent another letter to Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, calling for a face-to-face meeting and a visit to the borough.

Mr Gove agreed to this when the pair met at the Local Government Association's annual conference last year. Now Cllr Conway has confirmed he, too, will keep up the pressure for a better deal.

The council argued this very clearly earlier in the year, in response to a Government consultation on proposed changes to the national system.

It said these appeared to be a step in the right direction but pressed for more extensive reforms.

It is continuing to meet MPs Sir John Redwood (Wokingham), Theresa May (Maidenhead) and James Sunderland (Bracknell), who have expressed their support for the campaign, and is urging them to take these points forward to Government.

Common sense approach required

Cllr Conway said: “We have to plan for the future but the current system is based on past trends continuing - so if housing delivery has been high in the past, it's assumed it ought to remain high in the future.

"This effectively perpetuates existing trends and doesn't stop to consider the local picture, or how and where new homes and other development should truly be directed.

“On top of that, if more housing is built than required, under the current national rules we're not allowed to take this over delivery into account in calculating our future supply.

“We urgently need a fundamental, common sense overhaul of the planning system that looks at the national picture, considering housing requirements alongside other top-level strategies like those for levelling up, economic growth and infrastructure investment.”

Restoring faith in a fair system for everyone

Under the current formula, the council must plan for an assumed need of 795 new homes a year. Because of an acceleration in housebuilding beyond the council’s control, some 1,727 more homes were built above its planned requirement over the 2006 to 2022 period.

Cllr Lindsay Ferris, executive member for planning and local plan, said: "As it stands, we're being unfairly penalised for having proactively planned for new homes, which have then been built by developers ahead of time.

“By not accounting for this, national planning policy is damaging people's faith in the planning system as it allows developers to use the system to build more homes than was previously agreed.

"If it took a more holistic approach, it would allocate more housing to areas that genuinely need the economic opportunities it brings. This is clearly a far better way to achieve the 'levelling-up' the Government is seeking."

While lobbying for reform, the council continues to move its own local plan forward to ensure the borough remains protected from unwanted, speculative development in less suitable areas.

Its decision-making executive will discuss a revised timetable to update the plan this summer, with the aim of consulting on the next stages later this year.