Fill your glasses and sing-a-long in Waverley’s Last Chance Saloon
A report has identified 21 local planning authorities in the country as being most at risk of Government intervention for not having an up-to-date Local Plan. Guess who is one of them… you got it! Well done – It’s “Your Waverley!”
In recent months, the plan making performance of councils has been under increasing scrutiny and proposals to widen the scope for Government intervention in the Local Plan making process was set out for consultation in February. Now, The Local Plan Expert Group has put forward a series of additional sanctions for councils that fail to bring forward their plans.
Planning Minister Brendon Lewis said last July that if Local Plans were not in place “we will intervene and arrange for the plan to be written, in consultation with local people.”
WW says – “Yipee” does that mean we get control Yes Ministet – if so, bring it on?
But now the Government has gone a step further stating that authorities – “which have not kept the policies in their Local Plans up-to-date will be high priority for intervention.”
An analysis by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners (NLP), has identified just 21 town halls it considers most at risk of intervention.
Who does this include? WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL; TANDRIDGE COUNCIL, AND GUILDFORD. (which has now published its local plan.
NLP Director Matthew Spry said that the authorities had been identified based on their plan-making progress, local affordability ratios and a comparison of household projection and housing completion data. He said the lack of political will and commitment was behind the failure to progress plans. He said: “it identifies those local planning authorities that will need to speed progress in order to risk intervention.”
So far 139 plans have been submitted for examination – of these two thirds have been found sound, just 28 need more evidence…where is ours?
No Daft Local Plan – no control. No Local Plan – developers can continue to swarm all over Waverley leaving its residents totally vulnerable! Another 425 houses granted at appeal last week.
As councillor Taffy Edwards told Executive Director Paul Wen-ham- I -leaving, just a few months ago “for Christ’s sake get on with it – work 24 hours a day if necessary.” Much good did it do him – or us! because the Chief Planning Officer Matthew Evans resigned and promptly upped sticks and left – saying “I cannot put up with the political crap here any longer.”
A wrong decision is not forever, it can always be reversed.The losses from a delayed decision are forever, they can never retrieved. J.K. Glbraith 1908.