Letter: The Housing White Paper Is Only Consultative

Published on: 18 Sep, 2017
Updated on: 18 Sep, 2017

Click to link.

From Susan Parker

Leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group and borough councillor for Send

In response to: Council Leader Warns White Paper Means Higher House Building Targets for Guildford

The government has issued a White Paper which has consultative status only. It has many flaws and seems to be prepared to let development rip across the South East. This may be because the government is happy to help developers, who are significant contributors to the party. This is not a desirable way to make decisions.

While this White Paper may well be implemented in due course, at present it has no legislative force. It would be quite wrong for this to inform policy now; there is a long tradition of White Papers being modified in the light of public opinion. It is therefore not for Council Leader Spooner, nor the leader of any council, to take decisions on the basis of a White Paper at a consultative stage.

It is unfortunate that Guildford Borough Council (GBC) has provisionally accepted housing numbers which may be inflated (see reports on Cllr Reeve and his calculations on housing numbers). It is also a shame that Guildford has not yet accepted the principle that we should constrain those numbers since that would make it easier to resist a further inflated OAN (Objectively Assessed housing Need).

OAN can be modified in law in order to arrive at the “Housing Requirement”. It is the Housing Requirement, not the OAN number, which is the target we are required to build annually under a Local Plan because the government allows constraints in relation to proposed building.

We could implement constraints because our infrastructure is inadequate, we are surrounded by beautiful countryside, our borough is 45% AONB and 89% green belt. However, at this point, GBC has chosen not to take advantage of any legitimate constraints to reduce its OAN for the prospective housing number and instead is choosing to meet its OAN in full.

The consultation is open until November 9, and I would encourage all concerned residents to comment as part of that consultation process, and copy their response to their MP so that their representative is aware of their concerns. (We have four MPs in our borough, all Conservative: Anne Milton [Guildford], Sir Paul Beresford [Mole Valley], Jonathan Lord [Woking] and Michael Gove [Surrey Heath]).