Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council give planners more time to work out the borough’s true need for new homes

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has given planners extra time to work out the borough’s true need for new homes while it attempts to update its local plan.

This comes after councillors unanimously rejected the projected figure of 17,000 homes to be built over the next seven years at a cabinet meeting last month.

Councillors have now agreed that public consultation for the updated local plan will take place in autumn next year to give planners time to identify the correct level of local need for new homes.

Basingstoke and Deane’s cabinet member for planning and infrastructure Jay Ganesh said: “We have been working proactively to move forward with the Local Plan so that we can take difficult decisions about future development and involve our communities in this important debate as soon as possible.

“Our local plan needs to support growth and change in the borough that meets the needs of our residents and visitors in a way that responds to the climate change agenda, ensures that communities are beautiful and sustainable and that our environment is protected and enhanced, supporting the ecological emergency declaration.”

The new and updated Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan will guide development and planning decisions in the borough to at least 2029.

As well as outlining the amount of houses that should be built, the plan will also earmark locations that are deemed fit for development.

Many councillors believe that high levels of housing growth in the borough over the last 60 years has put increased pressure on local infrastructure, with the high projected figure of new homes not being a sustainable one.

Mr Ganesh also said: “We are all agreed, and I have heard loud and clear from the councillors representing our local communities, that extreme housing growth in Basingstoke and Deane needs to slow down so there is a much more sustainable future.

“There are significant challenges around how we identify the borough’s true housing need and it is only right that full consideration is given to this issue, including making a strong case to the government, to ensure we consult on a plan that we believe to be robust and appropriate to our local circumstances.”

The council plans to make a case to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that a new way of calculating housing needs that recognises local circumstances needs to be implemented across the country.

Leader of Basingstoke and Deane, Simon Bound, said: “Councillors and MPs up and down the country agree that the current planning system is fundamentally broken and needs a significant overhaul to put local decision making back at its heart.

“We will continue to work with our local government colleagues to make recommendations and suggestions on what these changes should be.

“I am heartened that everything that the new prime minister has said in recent months shows that she agrees that local need should be decided locally.

“It cannot be right that the borough has experienced eye-watering levels of house building yet is, at the same time, punished for lack of housing supply.

“We need strong planning policies in place, shaped by the people who live here, that protect our borough and its environment from unsuitable development and create the kind of place we want Basingstoke and Deane to be.”