District Councillor Keith Hudson has just made an ‘urgent decision’ under the powers he’s been given.
It’s not on the council website yet but we will link to it when we can. (the report and decision are 10 pages long)
Basildon Borough Council have now prepared their own Core Strategy for future housing and Cllr Keith Hudson has made the decision to object to it, for important reasons:
“Rochford District Council has serious concerns as to the impact that these policies will have on Rochford District and the Thames Gateway….”
Whats happening here? Well, Basildon Borough has come up with an option for housing that says Basildon will focus on building in existing urban areas and not allow any use of its Green Belt. As a result of this Basildon will only provide 6500 dwellings. Basildon acknowledge that this will fall short of its predicted future demand. To quote their strategy document:
“Although this is less than the Borough’s natural increase, it means that the Green Belt can continue to be afforded the highest protection with no land releases for development”
This is a very different situation to Rochford. Our council has tried to meet housing demand, and sacrificed some Green Belt for development out of fear that if they didn’t, developers would wreak havoc by picking their own greenfield sites and getting permission from a government inspector.
The concern for Rochford District is this – the government’s “National Planning Policy Framework” says that councils will be required to meet neighbouring authorities unmet housing needs “where it is reasonable to do so and consistent with achieving sustainable development”.
If Basildon are right, and they are able to protect their Green Belt, then Rochford will have allowed development on our Green Belt unnecessarily. The District Council would have a lot of explaining to do.
If Basildon are wrong, then developers might zoom in on Green Belt sites in Basildon, but possibly also in our district too…..
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| Category: Basildon, District Core Strategy | Comments (24)