EARLIER this week the new Deputy Prime Minister pronounced in Parliament that Test Valley’s housing target is to be increased by a staggering 75 per cent. 

Rather than planning for 524 new homes a year, we should instead prepare a Local Plan that delivers 921 dwellings per annum. 

As Test Valley is split into two housing market areas, that means delivering 396 new homes in the south of the borough each year instead of 225. A total of 6,336 over the 16-year plan period rather than 3,600. This despite solid delivery over the past decade with new developments at Abbotswood and Ganger Farm.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favour of new housing. As a father of two young children, I want them to have the same opportunities as previous generations to get on the housing ladder or have access to affordable homes, but new homes must be built in the right place, preserving local gaps; planned in consultation with local people; and crucially include high levels of local infrastructure.

We have just finished consulting on the latest stage of our new Local Plan, which included 1,070 new homes at Velmore Farm and 340 south of Ganger Farm. Along with some other smaller sites.

There were other sites put forward, such as land at Halterworth, but on balance, we felt the ones recommended were more acceptable in planning terms. Sadly, it now looks like we will have to redo elements of our Local Plan and potentially include sites that had previously been discounted.

In a letter Angela Rayner penned to council leaders this week she admitted that her new approach ‘will delay the adoption of some plans’. So much for getting on with delivery.

The enforced government delay is deeply concerning because we are obliged to provide a five-year housing land supply. If we don’t, there is a huge risk of developers getting permission for speculative plans, which are unlikely to include the significant amount of new infrastructure we are demanding through the Local Plan process. I raised this issue in a webinar with the Under Secretary of State this week, but no answer was forthcoming. 

This is especially frustrating here in Romsey where the brewery site has had permission for 18-years but hasn’t been fully built out. There is a real danger Labour’s new approach could turn into a developer’s charter and I’m following up urgently with Ministers to try and ensure we have adequate transitional arrangements so we can continue to protect our Local Gaps and countryside.

Of course, Labour-run Southampton have had their allocation reduced.

Cllr Phil North,
Leader of Test Valley Borough Council