Planning for the Future - Government consultation

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Residents used our Cornwall We Want campaign to express concerns about poor quality, large-scale developments and called for more affordable housing for local residents and stricter environmental standards for new homes.

Please share your views with Cornwall Council by 1st October on new Government planning rules which would set a requirement of 4,000 new houses to be built across Cornwall every year.

The proposals for new planning laws, designed to “build more homes, more quickly” in the UK potentially affect both of these issues. Their introduction would see an extra 12,500 new houses being built in Cornwall in the next ten years in addition to the current plans – the equivalent of a town roughly twice the size of Bodmin – with fears this will inevitably result in poor quality and unplanned speculative development coming forward.

Affordable home provision could fall significantly under the new rules. This is because of proposed short-term changes that mean developers will not have to provide any housing on sites of less than 40/50 homes. This could mean a loss of 300 affordable homes a year for Cornwall’s residents.

Cornwall Council wants to provide good quality homes that residents can afford, these proposals whilst building more homes risks them being poor quality and unaffordable.

Rightly the government wants to help small and medium-sized builders in these difficult times. Like many Local Authorities in England we have thousands of homes with planning permission which have not been built.  Unlocking these sites by giving us new powers or funding to build the infrastructure that is needed, will help build these new homes that our residents need.

In the long-term the 'Planning for the future' White paper also outlines how Greenbelt areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty may get the designation of ‘protect’ areas. As many South East authorities will be over 70% Greenbelt, there is a potential risk that this will lead to even greater pressure on Cornwall and other South West authorities.

Cornwall Council is calling on Government to:

  • review the new housing formula immediately;
  • abandon the proposals to raise the affordable housing threshold;
  • give us new powers or funding to build the infrastructure that is needed to unlock; and
  • focus on delivering net carbon zero new homes with strict standards being made mandatory so that new build housing market plays its full part in carbon reduction.

What can you do?

Residents used our Cornwall We Want campaign to express concerns about poor quality, large-scale developments and called for more affordable housing for local residents and stricter environmental standards for new homes.

Please share your views with Cornwall Council by 1st October on new Government planning rules which would set a requirement of 4,000 new houses to be built across Cornwall every year.

The proposals for new planning laws, designed to “build more homes, more quickly” in the UK potentially affect both of these issues. Their introduction would see an extra 12,500 new houses being built in Cornwall in the next ten years in addition to the current plans – the equivalent of a town roughly twice the size of Bodmin – with fears this will inevitably result in poor quality and unplanned speculative development coming forward.

Affordable home provision could fall significantly under the new rules. This is because of proposed short-term changes that mean developers will not have to provide any housing on sites of less than 40/50 homes. This could mean a loss of 300 affordable homes a year for Cornwall’s residents.

Cornwall Council wants to provide good quality homes that residents can afford, these proposals whilst building more homes risks them being poor quality and unaffordable.

Rightly the government wants to help small and medium-sized builders in these difficult times. Like many Local Authorities in England we have thousands of homes with planning permission which have not been built.  Unlocking these sites by giving us new powers or funding to build the infrastructure that is needed, will help build these new homes that our residents need.

In the long-term the 'Planning for the future' White paper also outlines how Greenbelt areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty may get the designation of ‘protect’ areas. As many South East authorities will be over 70% Greenbelt, there is a potential risk that this will lead to even greater pressure on Cornwall and other South West authorities.

Cornwall Council is calling on Government to:

  • review the new housing formula immediately;
  • abandon the proposals to raise the affordable housing threshold;
  • give us new powers or funding to build the infrastructure that is needed to unlock; and
  • focus on delivering net carbon zero new homes with strict standards being made mandatory so that new build housing market plays its full part in carbon reduction.

What can you do?

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Page last updated: 18 Sep 2020, 12:03 PM