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South East Plan - housing numbers, affordable housing, traffic fears and protecting Guildford's gardens
July 4, 2006 4:23 PM
Guildford's response to the draft South East Plan was discussed at last week's meeting of the Borough Council's Executive. The issues of most concern to councillors were the housing numbers allocated to Guildford, the provision of affordable housing, and how to protect Guildford from over-development.
The Executive accepted proposals from Liberal Democrat councillors who attended the meeting to add comments about the need to protect Guildford from the cumulative effects of higher-density housing, particularly traffic congestion and the loss of gardens.
The draft Plan requires Guildford to build 322 new homes every year up until 2026, slightly more than the current allocation in the Surrey Structure Plan. The planning officers' report to the Executive stated that it should be possible to accommodate these housing numbers within the urban area, so protecting the borough's green belt, and Guildford Borough Council would reserve its right to make further comments if those numbers were increased by the Government.
Cllr Vivienne Johnson (Lib Dem, Christchurch) agreed with this approach, but pointed out that the Council's response accepts that gardens are regarded as 'brown field' land in planning terms, and it was vital to protect them. Cllr Johnson said "This increased target for house building must not mean building in the town's gardens. We must preserve the character of our town by protecting all our green spaces, both public parks and private gardens, from the effects of over-development."
Cllr Liz Hogger, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, was concerned about increased traffic congestion on Guildford's roads. "Many of our roads are already saturated with traffic," Cllr Hogger said. "We should have the planning powers to refuse applications for more housing when the local roads cannot cope with more cars. There's no point in getting money from developers to improve infrastructure when it's physically impossible to increase the capacity of the roads."
The draft Plan proposes that over most of the South East region, including Guildford, 35% of new homes should be 'affordable'. Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Fiona White told the Executive that this should be increased to 50%. Cllr White said "Guildford has a desperate need for homes that people can afford, either for rent or for shared-ownership. It won't help to build 322 extra homes per year if high market prices put them most of them out of reach for young people and key workers. Other councils such as Oxford require 50% of new housing to be affordable, and I have no doubt developers could deliver that in Guildford if we insisted on that target."
The Borough Council's Conservative Executive agreed to include a comment expressing concern at the cumulative effects of development, but rejected the call for 50% affordable housing. The Council's agreed response will now be submitted in collaboration with other local authorities in Surrey. It is hoped that Guildford and other councils will be given the right to speak at the Public Examination of the South East Plan, which starts in November.
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