Update on the local plan by Councillor Peter Cresswell

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Hi Parish

Please find below an update from Councillor Peter Cresswell on the Local Plan

The Frustrations of being a Local Planning Authority

As I reported at last week’s meeting of the Parish Forum, the District Council has just lost an appeal in Fordham, brought forward by a company called Gladmans, for a site of up to 100 dwellings outside the development envelope. The national Inspector ruled that the Council could no longer “demonstrate a five year land supply”. What this means is that the Inspector decided there are not enough houses being built in the district to reach targets. 

Local Planning Authorities are set targets for new housing numbers over the planning period. The Government basically tells ECDC how many houses it must try to get the market to deliver.

The effect of the Planning Inspector’s legal ruling is that applications cannot now be refused only for the reason of being outside the development envelope. Applications will still be judged against, and have to comply with, other relevant planning policies in the Local Plan, but for now, the development envelopes effectively disappear.

Many local residents don’t like this situation, as it means that people can apply for planning permission anywhere – it is fair to say that the District Council is not that pleased about it either!

The frustration for the District Council is that it can give all the planning permissions it likes, but it has no powers to actually force developers to build the houses. The irony of the Gladmans’ appeal is that it was the same company who put the Council into this situation a couple of years ago with a site at Witchford for around 140 houses, where it won the same argument and put the Council into the same situation of having no five year land supply. There are still no houses built on that land in Witchford, which helped Gladmans’ legal case in the Fordham appeal – it is perverse!

All is not lost however, as the Council foresaw this situation and has worked tirelessly on a new Local Plan, which we hope to be able to adopt after it has been through the national inspection process later this year or early next year. This will wipe the slate clean on the past lack of delivery and we will regain control of our five year land supply once again, meaning the development envelopes will be back in place. Given that the development of a new Local Plan is such a lengthy process, I suspect that we will need to begin working on a new Local Plan as soon as the emerging Local Plan is adopted.

To say the situation is frustrating is an understatement!

Councillor Peter Cresswell ECDC Councillor for Cheveley Ward

email: pfcresswell@hotmail.co.uk

Telephone : 01638 661138 Mobile : 07960 733420