Cllr Millard calls for clear guidance on local plans and government reorganisation.
Cut out the confusion and bring us some clarity – that's the challenge from EHDC Leader Cllr Richard Millard to Angela Rayner MP on her return to Government.
Cllr Millard has called for urgent action on the issues blighting housing delivery and planning in a letter welcoming Angela Rayner back to her role as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Councils' planning teams have been left struggling with a wave of confusing and counterproductive changes to planning policies while local government reorganisation promises to change the landscape for local authorities in Hampshire in the next two years.
Cllr Millard writes: “If your first act could be to replace uncertainty with clarity, confusion with consistency, and unrealistic housing targets with deliverable ones, local authorities and the communities they serve would be genuinely grateful.”
Cllr Millard’s letter to Angela Rayner MP
In May, EHDC announced that we would not submit a local plan by the Government’s deadline of 31 December 2026, and instead, we would move to the new system.
The announcement came after sweeping government changes to how local plans are made - and ahead of a reorganisation of local government that will make new councils covering new areas.
We said that persisting with a local plan using old rules and outgoing boundaries was unjustifiable. Since then, more councils have followed suit, choosing to focus their plan-making efforts on new planning methods rather than the legacy systems.
The Government has promised guidance to councils on how to develop local plans in the face of local government reorganisation, but that guidance has not yet come through.
Cllr Millard said: “The government’s handling of planning policy, particularly with respect to local plans and LGR, has resulted in confusion and frustration for councils and residents.
“Angela Rayner’s first job must be to sort out the extraordinary muddle they have made of LGR and local plans. It’s evident to everyone that little thought has been given to how these radical changes to local government would affect the preparation of local plans.
“East Hampshire District Council acknowledges the need for housing growth but plan-led development depends on certainty, evidence and infrastructure – all of which are sadly missing from government policy at the moment.
“Councils such as East Hampshire stand ready to play their part in delivering the homes the country needs, but that can only be achieved through a stable, plan-led system underpinned by the infrastructure necessary to support sustainable growth.”