An excellent letter in yesterdays Western Morning News. WMN Letters: Cornwall doesnt need 47,500 homes By Western Morning News | Posted: January 05, 2015 Comments (3) So, Cornwall Council has approved its Local Plan proposal for the construction of 47,500 new homes over the next 15 years. What I find so depressing is the almost total lack of any real evidence to support this magical number. We keep being told that there is a housing need for 26,000 homes, but this is a figure that has been inflated by the inclusion of B and E applicants who already have adequate housing coupled with no apparent “local need”. These are housing wishes, not a needs! The basis for Cornwall Council’s Local Plan is the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that describes the fundamental components that are required to deliver “sustainable development”. These three components are, in order of priority: Economic (the provision of employment), Social (the provision of accommodation) and the Environment (enhancing and maintaining natural and historic environments). Cornwall’s Local Plan makes virtually no reference to the Economic component. I presume that Cornwall’s Economic Strategy is either that published by the council (Economic and Cultural Strategy) or that published by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (CIoS LEP). Well, the latter, which seems to have precedence, makes no reference to the creation of the tens of thousands of new jobs that would require the levels of housing identified in the Local Plan. I can find no reference to any form of council environmental strategy and, worse, there does not appear to have been any attempt to create a sustainable development strategy that would tie together all three elements identified in the NPPF. The only conclusions that I can draw from Cornwall Council’s proposals are: 1.Property development is seen as a catalyst that will somehow magically create new jobs (in addition to those within the construction industry). Indeed, the CIoS LEP seem to support this view as its first sub-strategy addresses construction, even though it is almost totally absent from its overarching growth agenda. 2. Cornwall Council’s decision has been influenced by the fact that it receives substantial Government New Homes bonus payments (Cornwall receives the third highest subsidy in the UK). 3.The property development sector has, in my view, an excessive influence over council policy. The fact that planning permission has already been granted for nearly 75% of the target before the Local Plan had been approved is very concerning. And, are we really expected to believe that development will cease when all 47,500 homes have been approved? There are 15 years left to run and surely nobody is so naïve as to expect the developers to shut down once the target has been achieved! There are many within Cornwall Council who believe that the unitary authority status is a logical stepping stone towards some form of assembly. However, collectively they have yet to demonstrate any level of authority that would support such as transition. Council strategies and policies are fragmented and lack any clear integrated approach. The fact that responsibility for the economic recovery has been abrogated to a totally unaccountable body (CIoS LEP) and that within council the portfolio for the economy is linked to culture demonstrates that they have just not grasped the fact that sustainable development must be led by the economic recovery of the region. Radio Cornwall recently hosted a debate on the Cornish infrastructure where a number of contributors noted that “nobody is listening” and that we have an “elitist bubble” managing our county’s affairs. I’m not sure I would call them elitist but, “they” do not appear to be listening and “they” appear reluctant to enter into any form of public debate. Dr Ben Dobson Newquay
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:05:18 +0000
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