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The Government’s planned reforms – to shift further power away from communities to developers – are ‘an unbelievable disaster for our communities’ claimed Cllr Graham Turner (Denby Dale, Lab).
The reforms announced last year were already opposed by groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Friends of the Earth.
Representations were made by Cllrs Turner and Simpson (both Denby Dale, Lab) and the Kirklees Cabinet in opposition to the reforms.
The Government’s reforms included plans for:
– fewer affordable homes required on developments
– fewer affordable homes required on developments
– more automatic permission for developers
– the further fast tracking of Local Plans, to open up more protected land for development
– developers to receive refunds and fee deductions from councils if applications are not accepted quickly
– applications and permission processes to be ‘streamlined’ for developers, with less public consultation and supporting evidence required, and less public decision-making
– abolishing Environmental Impact Assessments for the vast majority of applications.
Further details can be found here.
The Financial Times described these as ‘a shake-up designed to accelerate the process’; ‘to speed up approvals for new developments’ and that ‘private developers will play an expanded role’.
Cllr Turner commented ‘national planning laws already give overwhelming power to big developers against communities.
‘These reforms would be a disaster. They need to be stopped.’
The Government has already used its national planning laws to legally require Kirklees Council to:
– remove brownfield sites from plans, as they were not profitable enough for developers;
– remove brownfield sites from plans, as they were not profitable enough for developers;
– include more housing in development plans to meet national targets;
– include green field sites for housing;
– include enough land for at least 31,140 homes before 2031;
– build at least one third of all new homes on the Green Belt.
– include green field sites for housing;
– include enough land for at least 31,140 homes before 2031;
– build at least one third of all new homes on the Green Belt.
The planned reforms have now become even more damaging for Kirklees, despite opposition from the Council and residents, with the Government deciding to change the formula to ’tilt development’ towards the North.
The result of this is already disastrous reforms becoming even worse for areas like Kirklees.
Unpopular developments and Green Belt loss have already been legally imposed upon Kirklees Council by the Government, despite local opposition.
The Government’s ’tilt’ to the North for big developers will result in even more Kirklees Green Belt being threatened by national government policy.
In a post on Facebook, Mark Eastwood MP (Tory, Dewsbury) described the reforms as ‘delivering on our promises’ which he considered an ‘honour’ – with a video stating they were ‘the most radical reforms to our planning system since WWII to kickstart the construction industry and speed up rebuilding’.
This month the group of Conservative MP’s Mark Eastwood is a member of, the ‘Northern Research Group’, published a report and lobbied government for large planning applications in the North of England to get automatic planning approval.
Cllr Will Simpson commented:
‘Councillors and communities should never again be put in the position of having viable brownfield building plans rejected under national planning policy – because they are not easy or lucrative enough for developers – and instead
have the Government demand greenfield and Green Belt losses.
‘The profits of Persimmon should not come before our communities.
‘Yet that is exactly what these disastrous reforms do.
‘It is simply unbelievable that they have somehow gotten worse for our area from when they were published in the White Paper.
‘It is simply shameful that our MP is refusing to stand up to his own government on these disastrous plans for our communities.’
Cllr Turner and Cllr Simpson wrote to Mark Eastwood MP in February 2020, when reforms were first mooted in the Times, asking him to confirm that he will vote against any planning law reforms which will further damage areas like Denby Dale by putting the profits of big developers above the needs of people and communities.
He refused to make that commitment.
You can find a copy of the response from Cllrs Will Simpson and Graham Turner (both Lab, Denby Dale) to the Government consultation here:
The Denby Dale Labour councillors also led on a representation from Denby Dale Parish Council opposing the reforms.