To receive any statements by the Leader of the Council, Executive Members and Deputy Executive Members.
In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.2.23 the total time allocated to this item shall not exceed 20 minutes, and no Member shall speak for more than 5 minutes
Minutes:
Julian McGhee Sumner, Leader of the Council:
I would like to start by saying I am pleased to confirm our new CEO Susan Parsonage joins us on Monday and I look forward to welcoming her to WBC, and I am sure we will all make her feel welcome as she gets to grips with what is a very challenging role. I would also like to pay special thanks to our interim CEO, Heather Thwaites, who has done a magnificent job in re-establishing our Corporate Leadership Team and winning back the trust of our staff following a number of turbulent months. Heather has shown herself to be a great leader, very approachable, results focused, and someone who takes her team with her, and we will be very sad to see her go but at least she will not be going until the end of April. I do not normally get a clap after my speech so I am quite pleased with that.
Over the last few months feedback from residents over future development has been deafening, with petitions, motions and response to the Local Plan update and sessions around the Borough. It is clear that residents are saying enough is enough and a view that we totally agree with and have been putting forward to Government for many years but they are simply not listening. So let us put some facts on the table. We have approved applications for 8,187 houses with another 2,013 in the pipeline for the South Wokingham Strategic Development Location. Without the 2,013 that is the equivalent of a 11.2 year land supply based on the Government requirement rate for the build of 854 houses per year. That is over twice the required rate of a five year land supply. We have clearly demonstrated time and time again that this Council is not going to be obstructive, that it is going to do its bit, and it is going to provide housing, especially affordable housing that the Government insists we have to. But despite this the Government continues to pile on the additional numbers on us, numbers which are higher than our neighbours and it is almost like being rewarded for not doing the right thing and penalised for doing the right thing.
So what have we been doing over the last few years to discuss and negotiate with Government and agencies to address its respective over development. The previous three Leaders have all had face to face meetings with the Prime Minister. Other Executive Members have met with the relevant Ministers, they have even met with the Chief Planning Inspector, all to no avail. No change in numbers. We are told you have to take them. We have now reached a crossroads where enough is enough. We have to find a different way to convince the Government to be more reasonable. Today I am announcing what I plan to do and I am looking for support from all residents and Councillors regardless of their party allegiance, for my proposals. My team and Officers have looked at many options over recent weeks and we wanted to go for a referendum where we would ask residents for their views on our housing numbers, but regretfully we have been advised that after taking legal advice, this would be illegal, which is unfortunate to say the least. So instead we are having to fall back on a special consultation. I know many residents will comment that they have subscribed to consultations in the past but this is very different. Each resident will get a letter which poses a very simple question ‘do you support the Government afflicted housing numbers?’ in a simple yes or no manner. We want as many residents to respond as possible so that we can go back to the Government to say ‘look, all these residents cannot be wrong. You have to do something about these overly high housing numbers.’ The more responses we get to our argument, the better. When I took over as Leader I said I would do things differently. I would listen to our residents and act in their best interests and I hope everyone will agree that this move is a bold, strong move to put our residents centre stage in this battle to get the Government to be more reasonable in their demands on us to build more and more houses. If we can come together, residents and all Councillors, with a single aim to get this Government to listen we might just get some movement. If we do not work together it is highly unlikely we will get anywhere. I cannot guarantee that we will be successful but I made a pledge when I took over as Leader to try and find solutions to problems, to work for the common good, and hope everyone will get behind this campaign so we can move forward together.