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Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council planning chief 'worried' about development by appeal rather than committee




The man in charge of the borough council’s planning and housing committee has admitted to being “worried” that the borough is being developed by appeal rather than committee.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is currently unable to demonstrate a five year housing land supply – or a five year supply of ‘specific deliverable sites’ compared to its allocation by central Government.

The council is currently tasked with building 17,820 homes by 2039, and 860 homes per year under the Government’s standard methodology, giving a five-year housing requirement of 4,300 units.

Councillor Stuart Frost (55336939)
Councillor Stuart Frost (55336939)

However, a five per cent buffer is applied, taking the total required to 4,515 – while the council has only identified 4,121 deliverable houses, meaning it can only demonstrate a housing land supply of around 4.5 years.

With this the case, there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – which has led to developers submitting sizeable housing applications across the north of the borough, arguing that this presumption should apply.

These have included separate applications for 50 homes and 350 homes in Bishops Green, 45 homes in Ashford Hill, 350 homes in Wash Water, and 140 homes in Stocks Farm in Bramley.

While the borough council’s development control committee (DCC) – its decision-making body on planning applications – will still come to its own decision on the applications, developers can then choose to appeal to the planning inspectorate if it’s refused, who will have the final say.

Stuart Frost, the chair of the council’s economic, planning and housing committee, said: “I’m very concerned because at the moment, developers can appeal to the inspectorate and it’s out of our hands.

“It’s a roll of the dice to see whether the planning permission is granted.

“I’m worried because it’s planning by appeal rather than planning by committee and I’d rather help get the borough to a position where we can plan by DCC.”

Mr Frost said the council had twice objected to the overall housing target from central Government, hoping to get it reduced – thus allowing the council to demonstrate the five year housing land supply.

Alternatively, the council could allocate more sites for housing – however, Mr Frost said he preferred to reduce the housing number instead.

He continued: “We need to get the five year housing land supply and we can get back control of our own destiny.

“Fixing the five year housing land supply is something we have to do in conjunction with the housing number.

“That’s something that we have to have discussions with the national Government, Michael Gove and his department and we’re still getting the evidence together.”



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