Fears over speculative development as council works on housing blueprint
There are concerns over speculative development going ahead while Stroud District Council works on a new blueprint for housing as the area needs around 820 homes a year.
Planning inspectors previously raised serious concerns over the draft local plan the authority was developing amid concerns over capacity at junctions 12 and 14 of the M5.
That blueprint aims to set out future strategic development and details the levels and types of growth planned for the area until 2040.
But now the authority needs to start preparing for another new local plan under the Government’s new system.
This system introduces a 30‑month end‑to‑end process, supported by three gateway stages, intended to speed up the plan adoption process and achieve universal coverage of up‑to‑date local plans across England.
All the authorities in the district council’s cohort need to publish a notice of commencement by June 30 and a self-assessment would need to be done by the end of October.
However, residents are concerned developers will take advantage of the council’s current inability to demonstrate a five year housing land supply.
Steve Willetts, from Cam Community Action Group, asked a public question about the issue at a Stroud District Council meeting.
He asked what actions are being taken to mitigate the risk of speculative development while a new plan is developed.
He said: “It has been regularly stated and reinforced that a plan remains in force and is valid.
“However, it is quite clear that promoters and developers are leveraging the fact that a five-year housing supply cannot be demonstrated and are pointing to policies being out of date or misaligned to current legislation.”
Council leader Chloe Turner (G, Minchinhampton) said the authority recognises concerns about speculative development while they do not have a five year supply of housing and the local plan is out of date.
She said in these circumstances, decisions are made in line with national planning policy “including the application of the tilted balance in favour of sustainable development where relevant”.
“This limits the extent to which speculative proposals can be resisted solely on the basis of out-of-date local policies,” she said.
“Speculative development is inherently difficult to predict. However, the council uses available evidence, including the strategic assessment of land availability, to understand where such proposals are more likely to arise, particularly on sites previously promoted by landowners and developers but not allocated.”
During the debate, Cllr Turner said the local plan was about “looking ahead and putting in place a modern up to date plan that reflects the district’s needs, ambitions and distinctive character over the long term”.
“It allows the council to take back control of where and how development happens rather than reacting to proposals in the absence of an up to date plan.”
Labour Councillor Helen Caton Hughes (Dursley) said the issue was urgent and they need a clear plan as soon as possible given the district’s housing waiting list.
“We currently have 4,000 households on the district waiting list,” she said.
While Conservative Councillor Robert Brown (C, Severn) said his area is witnessing a lot of speculative development at the moment.
He made a plea for the new local plan to be “as sensible and passable as possible so that we can get something in place to avoid the situation that we are currently in from ever happening again”.
The council voted unanimously to begin the process of developing a new local plan.