General Discussion
“The number of homes that have to be built annually in Teignbridge could be doubled under changes to planning rules currently included in a national consultation.”
To read more click here https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/news/latest-council-news/september-2020/
It seems that a fair number of Conservative MPs are also expressing concern over these proposals.
Anyone know what our Conservative MP's thoughts are on this issue?
WTF is there such a demand for tens of thousands of new homes to be built in Teignbridge?
Where on earth do all these buyers come from to settle in an area of low employment opportunities and low average pay. Were little additional infrastructure is built alongside these large developments of new houses?
With the way things are going with our incompetent government there will be many people in Teignbridge who will have large mortgages and NO way to pay them!
Give it to middle of next year and watch the banks in the same dilemma they were in in 2008.
There is an article on this issue in today's (Monday 28th September) Telegraph. See front page for Housing plan concretes over Tory heartlands. (only able to read part of it online)
It gives figures for how much more housing will be deemed to be needed according to the government as opposed to housing figures as shown in local authoritie's Local Plans.
The article says that in Devon a total of 32,782 more new houses should be built in excess of the numbers in the Local Plans of Devon local authorities.
TDC has now made public its response to central government’s proposals regarding increasing the number of new homes that should be built.. The full response can be read here (click on link and then scroll down):
Here are some extracts:
“Under the new proposed housing need methodology, our area would see one of the greatest
housing target increases across the country. Whilst the national method that was introduced in
2018 currently requires 760 dwellings per annum (23% more than our 2014 Local Plan target), the
latest approach would see that figure double again to 1,532 units.”
“.........any upwards adjustment in housing numbers as a result of affordability is not going
to change the districts economic base or potential; we remain a peripheral district which loses
out to the city of Exeter and its immediate surroundings and have seen unemployment rise as
a result of major employers making efficiencies or closing altogether. Without accompanying
jobs, the high housing numbers would inevitably see an increase in out-commuting to the
cities of Exeter and Plymouth, running contrary to the need to be reduce travel and transport based
carbon emissions. Simply providing more houses is not going to bridge the gap between l ow wages and high house prices. It is local economics which underpin our affordability issue,
not a lack of availability.”
“We have consistently delivered on our Local Plan housing target for the last 5 years and affordability has continued to get worse, disproving the notion that the more housing you have, the more affordability will improve. If the affordability uplift was coupled with investment for affordable
housing, or a state-backed not for profit, housebuilding scheme, then this may go some way to
address the issue.”
“Clearly, our adopted plan does not make provision for anywhere near the number now required by the proposed revision and would leave us unacceptably vulnerable to unplanned developments, not only risking development taking place in unsustainable locations, but also poor quality developments with little planned infrastructure to benefit both the new and existing communities. “
“...the blanket introduction of 25% First Homes* ignores the individual local circumstances in
relation to types of affordable housing need. Currently, there are around 1000 people on our Devon
Home Choice Register looking for social or affordable rented housing in Teignbridge. 96% of these
households cannot afford home ownership. The non-negotiable requirement of 25% First Homes
would therefore do little to address the real affordable housing need in Teignbridge.”
(* info here about the First Homes scheme https://www.themortgagehut.co.uk/expert-articles/first-time-buyers/117/first-homes-programme)
At the recent Dawlish Town Council meeting Cllr Taylor advised that the housing numbers target that the government set the district council to build had been more than doubled from 720 new homes a year to 1,520 a year. The Council had sent a robust response to government.
Well - what if, what if, similar responses are forthcoming from the Tory shires? (and I bet they are). I wonder then if those Conservative MPs who represent such constituencies will have the bottle to defy the government?
Given the numbers in parliament - it will need Tory MPs, and enough Tory MPs, to rebel and vote this down.
If they don't, then vast swathes of Tory voting land will have extra housing built on it.
Hmmmm........wonder how that would go down with the Tory voting electorate?
So it's up to Tory MPs to stop this - (and that includes our MP).