News Release : 13 September 2005

GOVERNMENT HOUSING PROPOSALS FLAWED, SAYS ASSEMBLY

Government’s consultation paper Planning for Housing Provision is based on a flawed principle and would create practical problems in delivering new homes, says the South East England Regional Assembly’s Planning Committee.

The Committee has serious concerns about the consultation paper, which aims to increase the supply of land for homes. It urges Government to allow for long-term planning rather than making local authorities subject to short-term changes in the housing market. The Committee’s response argues that the consultation proposals:

• Wrongly assume that releasing more land will deliver more homes, when it is often inadequate infrastructure that prevents building.
  
  
• Fail to recognise that infrastructure investment is needed to push forward housing delivery.
  
  
• Offer no practical tools or measures for local authorities to help fund essential infrastructure to support new homes.
  
  
• Fail to address the key challenge of affordability.
  
  
• Create greater uncertainty for long-term planning by allowing short-term changes in the housing market to trigger reviews of the 20-year South East Plan.
  
  
• Ignore the role of public land, particularly in helping to deliver affordable homes.
  
  
• Allow developers to choose greenfield sites ahead of previously developed land or more sustainable sites.

The Committee also criticised the short time allowed for consultation and the fact that it was dislocated from forthcoming wider Government consultation on housing and affordability.

Cllr Christine Field, Chairman of the Assembly’s Regional Planning Committee said: “For such an important topic as housing, this process has been too rushed. Although we support the emphasis on implementation and delivery that could give local authorities a more pro-active role, we have serious concerns about the principles of the consultation paper. It will be a grave problem if the necessary infrastructure cannot be planned alongside new housing. The Government’s piecemeal approach to consultation also makes it very difficult for the region to take a joined-up approach to solving our key problems of infrastructure and affordability.”

Contact

Lesley van Dijk, PR Executive - 01483 555223

Heather Bolton, Head of Communications - 01483 555220

Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the "voluntary regional chamber" for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
   
   
2. The Assembly is made up of 112 members including elected councillors nominated by the region's local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
   
   
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
   
   
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
   
   
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007

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