By Cllr Jason Brock
It is increasingly evident that this Conservative Government seems intent on making local councils operate with one arm tied behind their back.
Hot on the heels of its ‘mini-budget’ disaster, and the calamitous knock-on impact on people’s mortgage bills, comes the news that the inappropriately named ‘levelling up’ Minister may be looking to shift the goalposts on the requirement for wealthy developers to build desperately needed affordable homes.
Reports suggest that the Government is intending to raise the threshold at which affordable homes should be built in new developments.
At present, a development of 10 dwellings or more is liable, whereas reports suggest this will be raised to those with 40 or 50.
This is very relevant in a place like Reading, where a large proportion of new developments are for smaller plots, given the lack of available space to build.
Back in 2015, Reading Council, together with our neighbours in West Berkshire, successfully challenged the Government at a Judicial Review when the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wanted to change national policy so that local councils could not insist that developers were obliged to provide affordable housing on sites of 10 or fewer dwellings.
The following year, that decision was reversed at a Court of Appeal hearing but, importantly, it was also established that national policy does not override local policy.
The ruling meant local authorities were able to demonstrate why exceptional circumstances exist for an alternative local approach.
In subsequent years, your Council has been able to demonstrate these exceptional circumstances across a number of appeals – backed up by our Local Plan – which means Reading has continued to secure affordable housing on all sizes of development.
If the Conservatives are successful in blocking affordable housing contributions on smaller sites, and if it prevents the Council from applying its own evidence-based local policy, many hundreds of new affordable homes would be lost to Reading and our residents who desperately need them.
In a similar vein, the Council is looking to block the future use of a national policy in some parts of Reading that allows developers to bypass the local planning process.
Known in planning circles as Permitted Development Rights, or PDRs, these laws allow changes to be made to a building without the need to apply for planning permission, and they very often lead to substandard homes and sizeable developer profits without any mitigation of impact on communities. PDRs are increasingly used to permit the conversion of commercial and retail premises to residential properties, with the valid opinions of nearby neighbours and the local council ignored.
Aside from the impact that cramming substandard homes onto inappropriate plots has on future occupiers, neighbours, and communities, the use of PDRs is also estimated to have cost Reading nearly 600 new affordable homes along with the loss of at least £3.5 million in off-site contributions to affordable housing.
Nearly £4 million in planning, education, leisure, and transport contributions, has also been lost since 2013.
Concerningly, it appears that the ‘levelling up’ Minster also has his eye on expanding the use of PDRs to benefit developers. If forced through, this may directly impact on what we are trying to achieve locally for the benefit of all our residents in Reading – present and future.
I was surprised to hear last month some opposition councillors bemoaning the fact that Reading was not meeting the notional affordable housing need for Reading of 406 homes per year.
Perhaps their attention would be better spent opposing Government planning policy, especially when it’s very clear to anyone who cares to do any research that councils are hugely constrained by what is viable in the context of national planning laws.
What we have been doing in Reading is maximising delivery of affordable homes through the planning system, while at the same time committing to the largest Council home-building programme in a generation, which includes new key worker homes and extra-care housing.
This Government’s planning framework continues to frustrate our ability to secure the levels of affordable housing we want from private developers.
The fact is that until they change course – and there is certainly no sign of that any time soon – there will continue to be a shortage of affordable housing despite the best efforts of local councils and councillors everywhere.
It’s time for Westminster to get real, set aside their hubris, and recognise that councils know best when it comes to local community needs.
Cllr Jason Brock is the leader of Reading Borough Council and ward member for Southcote
