Council Leader tells Government: Don’t force taxpayers to fund pointless planning exercise
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is calling on the Government to delay demands for the Council to start work on a new Local Plan.
Leader Jonathan Gullis has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed MP, arguing that work should not begin on a Local Plan for 2030-2045.
Cllr Gullis said it would be completely unreasonable to force council officers to spend thousands of hours, and for taxpayers to fund an estimated £1 million of work, on a planning document that may never see the light of day.
The Council is currently awaiting clarity over Local Government Reorganisation, which could see the Borough abolished within a few years. Despite that uncertainty, the Government is still expecting the Council to begin preparing a new Local Plan for 2030 to 2045.
Local Plans set out where land can be developed for housing, employment and business, as well as which areas should be protected from development. They must also identify a rolling five-year supply of housing land.
Cllr Gullis said:
This is madness.
The Government wants Newcastle-under-Lyme taxpayers to bankroll a new Local Plan to accommodate them forcing 2,000 plus additional homes in our community, while the future of our Borough is still hanging in the air.
We are talking about thousands of hours of officers’ time and around £1 million of taxpayers’ money being poured into a plan that could be binned before the ink is dry.
People do not pay council tax for pointless paperwork. They want us focused on protecting services, standing up for our communities and getting value for money.
I have asked the Government to show common sense and stop this. If the minister refuses, I will make clear that Newcastle-under-Lyme will not waste taxpayers’ money on a process that may never see the light of day, and I will not support starting a new Local Plan while this uncertainty hangs over us.”
A Local Plan covering the period 2020 to 2040 has already been agreed by the Planning Inspector but has yet to be formally adopted by the authority.
The document will be considered at the next meeting of Full Council on 8 July.
If approved by Full Council, the Local Plan 2020–2040 will make provision for 400 new homes per year. By contrast, the proposed Local Plan 2030–2045 would require the Council to find space for 559 dwellings per year.