Question
The only way to control development in the Borough is to create a Local Plan. The Liberal Democrat led coalition put the Local Plan on hold when it took control of the Council last year. In Council late last year you stated a timetable for a new Plan would appear in 2023. Please can you advise when this will appear and when you expect it to be completed?
Minutes:
Question
The only way to control development in the Borough is to create a Local Plan. The Liberal Democrat led coalition put the Local Plan on hold when it took control of the Council last year. In Council late last year you stated a timetable for a new Plan would appear in 2023. Please can you advise when this will appear and when you expect it to be completed?
Answer
You are mistaken. The Local Plan is not on hold, and it never has been.
A substantial body of work is continuing on the evidence base that will support future discussions and sound decision making. This includes work on transport and flood risk modelling, and housing, economic and retail assessments all of which you will agree are essential.
As you will be aware, the government is consulting on changes to national planning policy. I cautiously welcome some of the government’s proposals, however it is important that we reflect on this before agreeing a revised programme for the local plan and publish the next stage.
Whilst preparing the evidence base is taking a little longer than previously expected, we continue to work on this and the plan, so that we are ready to push forward as soon as the national picture becomes clearer.
Supplementary Question
I note your comments and follow your logic, as a Ward member for Finchampstead there have been a number of applications recently which historically the council has been able to defend. If the next phase of the Local Plan is not expediated, it makes it easier for sites to be developed unopposed, which previously the Council has fought against. What other protection can you give in the short run to help defend these marginal sites which people feel very strongly should not be developed.
Answer
We have been doing what residents have requested and looking at the objections made by local people, including Finchampstead as well as many other places across the borough in a way that the previous Administration hadn’t done. We have listened to objections and asked officers to see if there were any better options. Work is underway to look at four large areas in the borough, this is being done properly and it takes time. We inherited the issue around the five year land supply from the previous Administration.
If the government proposals as they currently stand come into force in April, are confirmed, two important areas are raised. The first is to take account of overprovision, if overprovision from the existing Local Plan is taken into account, this will work to Wokingham’s favour. In addition, the draft National Planning Policy Framework discusses removing the housing buffer, which is calculated as 5% for Wokingham, 42 dwellings per year. This cumulative impact of this is significant and would equate to approx. 2,200 to 2,300 dwellings that the council would not need to plan. I think it is worth fighting for a Local Plan which requires approx. 2,200 less dwellings to be provided in the borough. I would urge you to lobby your MPs that those two matters in the draft NPPF remain in the finalised guidance.