A statement from Cllr Richard Millard, Leader of East Hampshire District Council
East Hampshire District Council has been left in an impossible position by the Government’s handling of local government reorganisation.
The council has been left picking up the pieces from a process that has already cost councils huge amounts of time and money, created enormous uncertainty and now leaves us in another quandary over our Local Plan.
Despite working tirelessly on our Local Plan for years, against a backdrop of constantly shifting ground, in May we were forced to move onto the Government’s new planning system.
The Government’s original Local Government Reorganisation proposals, particularly the boundary changes affecting East Hampshire, added further uncertainty and ultimately proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the existing plan, accelerating the need to begin again.
That means starting again and embarking on a 30-month process at least to prepare a new Local Plan.
And now, just as we have been forced to start that process, the future of LGR is once again completely uncertain. LGR has not gone away. It remains on the horizon, but we have no idea when it will happen, what form it will take or what councils will ultimately be responsible for.
That leaves us in an absurd position. We are being asked to spend years and significant amounts of public money preparing a new Local Plan, while there is every possibility that further Government reorganisation could leave that work having to be changed, revisited or potentially wasted.
Our residents should not have to pay the price for this uncertainty. The Government might be happy to waste time and money going round in circles. East Hampshire District Council is not. We will not sit back while Whitehall works out what it is doing. We are going to make the best of a bad situation created by Government and get on with what we can control.
Getting ahead of development
We know housing and development are coming to East Hampshire. Our job is to make sure that development is as good as it can be - well designed, sustainable and appropriate for our communities.
That is why we will press ahead with a Supplementary Plan, bringing forward important planning policies while the new Local Plan is being prepared. This will allow us to move much faster than the full Local Plan process and get important policies in place as soon as possible.
Building on the good work already undertaken through our previous draft Local Plan, the Supplementary Plan will look at issues including:
- creating and contributing to attractive, well-designed places
- reducing the carbon emissions of new buildings and improving their climate resilience
- using water wisely within new developments
- creating greener streets and open spaces for people to enjoy and wildlife to thrive
These are issues that matter to our residents - and we have listened. We can act on those priorities now. We don't need to wait years for Whitehall to make up its mind. The Supplementary Plan will help us get ahead of the curve, rather than simply reacting to development once it arrives.
We will still prepare a new Local Plan
We are not abandoning our Local Plan. We will continue preparing a new plan under the Government’s new planning system. But it is likely to take at least 30 months, against a backdrop of continuing uncertainty over LGR.
While the Government is faffing around checking its own work, going round in circles and leaving councils to pick up the bill, East Hampshire will crack on with what it can do.
We cannot control the uncertainty created by Government. But we can control how we respond to it. We will get on with protecting East Hampshire, improving the quality of development and delivering the planning policies our communities need.
Angela Rayner may be able to put LGR on hold. She cannot put East Hampshire on hold.