‘Massive increases in housing in Stratford district with no thought to who needs what’

DRAMATIC changes to housing targets put forward by the new government have attracted fresh criticism – from the charity that campaigns to support rural areas such as Stratford district.

The possibility that Labour’s changes could mean a 99 per cent rise in the new homes figure was highlighted by the Herald in August.

This showed how the figure using the approach set out in 2014 was 553 – but the proposed new method from the rethink of the National Planning Policy Framework gives a potential target of 1,098.

Though Stratford’s Local Plan figures are now higher than the ten-year-old statistic, the prospect of a further step change sparked alarm.

While a response is awaited to the official consultation, the Campaign to Protect Rural England has highlighted what is at risk if the criticisms – including those from Stratford District Council – are ignored.

Chair Judith Cobham-Lowe said: “Only last month, the government committed to a ‘brownfield first’ policy. It’s difficult to see how these new targets support that approach”.

“Worse than that, this is the first time I can remember that proposed increases are not based on local housing assessments, ONS household projections, or the most recent population census data.

“It’s just about massive increases with no thought to who needs what, where, and how we can meet the desperate need for affordable housing.”

And she also pointed to concern that a well-established addition to the targets, intended to help bring down prices in expensive areas such as Stratford, was flawed.

She added: “Already high base figures are then further inflated by a so-called ‘affordability uplift’

“This is a 20-year-old formula which holds that if you build many more houses in better off areas – including the whole of Warwickshire – house prices will tumble.

“This just doesn’t happen. House prices have more than trebled since 2004, but the formula is still being applied”.

The charity says that within an overall 69 per cent increase for Warwickshire suggested under the new calculations, Stratford is not the only area facing a much bigger rise – it is 128 per cent in North Warwickshire.

And it points out that in Warwick District, which it says is already building more new houses than any other area of the county, they are expected to increase that by 62 per cent.

The CPRE’s technical secretary, Mark Sullivan, said: “This means that over the next five years rural land will need to be allocated for 19,300 more houses, even though 75 per cent of that increase is down to applying the ‘affordability uplift’ formula. It’s not a response to identified need”.

“By contrast, the government’s proposals would reduce the requirement, compared to present targets, by 31 per cent in Birmingham and 50 per cent in Coventry.

“These are cities where there is a need for housing and where there is identified brownfield land available to use.

“The method that Angela Rayner is proposing will distort house building – putting it where it’s not needed and not where there is an actual need to build, which is in urban areas.

“That’s where the shops, schools, health services, and public transport that sustainable communities require are already in place.”

The charity is calling for policies in line with the government’s ‘brownfield first’ claims, with better targeting of social and affordable housing.

Stratford District Council leader Cllr Susan Juned (Lib Dem, Alcester East) said the council had responded in detail to the consultation questions – in a document that runs to 35 pages and is available on the council’s website.

It supported some aspects of the government’s proposals where it believed they would bring greater clarity – but also suggested changes particularly relevant to Stratford’s situation.

Cllr Juned said: “If we are to have targets set on us we want to be able to have input to the terms and conditions as we want the best for the area and our residents.

“We hope the government does come back quickly because we’re at a crucial stage in our local plan where we need some clarity and certainty on what it will require us to do.

“We need to make sure to do things in a way that’s beneficial and not end up with the problems of a lack of infrastructure we have had in the last ten years.”

She said the council wanted to see the guidance show a clear commitment to the approach of infrastructure first and recognise how important infrastructure and its funding is in all situations.

And she added the response also covered issues about how housing numbers are calculated; the need to factor in past oversupply when calculating future targets; not being forced to take overflow from the nearby urban areas of Birmingham and Coventry; a commitment to a target of 50 per cent ‘genuinely affordable’ housing; high standards of construction of building and energy efficiency; recognising the need to work with communities including those that have developed neighbourhood plans; and a host of other factors.

The consultation closed on 24th September.