There is a ‘middle way’ between central government trying to coerce local government into granting unwanted planning approvals for contentious residential housing developments and opposition governments becoming elected by saying they would bring back compulsory housing targets!
It is to allow local town and parish councils to determine residential planning permissions and by so doing, manage and maintain the balance of their own local housing supply and demand.
To achieve this I am campaigning for a complete transfer of decision-making powers for the granting of residential planning approvals, which would give local parish and town councils full responsibility to bring forward effective development plans and be able to grant planning approvals in accordance with these without interference by central government.
In other words the responsibility to balance the use of all residential property should be assigned to local parish and town councils in order to meet existing and future demand for the right type of residential development within their area.
This would make such councils active in ensuring that new and existing residential property, within their jurisdiction, would allow for a user-spread which is fully able to accommodate future demand for housing within the local residential property pool under their control.
Enabling this would be enabling real town planning. If given this responsibility, each district and its local planning committees would be expected to balance the demands for each type of residential property user in their area, so that those requiring housing in its various forms should be able to obtain it.
In this way, each area would be empowered to succeed in providing housing for its own residents. This could result in all areas within the Britain becoming able to house its local inhabitants adequately.
What we need is ‘Local’ Democracy, ‘Local’ Accountability.
This proposal would work by completely replacing the current top-down residential planning policies, which are failing and demonstrably insufficient. I ask that this new proposal for root and branch change should be fully examined, scrutinised, debated and after all of that, be inaugurated.
For more details follow the link below:
The house price affordability crisis
Posted by: Peter Hendry, Housing Valuation Consultant
Author of:– The House Price Solution, otherwise known as The Hendry Solution.
All we need are our forward-looking councillors to get together and vote for these changes. Those who want to represent their constituents will be keen to examine these new proposals, discuss their merits, and champion their adoption soon.