Council to update planning rules amid concern over Government housing targets

Draft targets increased Northumberland’s housing target by 222% to 1,768 homes per year, causing outrage among the Tory administration. The final figure is set to be confirmed by the Government in the coming weeks.

The Local Plan, which sets out the planning rules for the county, was due to be reviewed in 2027. However, in light of the concern over the housing targets the council has chosen to act now.

A report presented to the council’s cabinet outlined the priorities for a revised housing strategy. Speaking at the meeting, council leader Glen Sanderson warned that the administration would resist any attempts to impose housing where the council and residents did not want it.

He said: “Northumberland is, if you like, a sovereign place – a sovereign state – that will not have views imposed on it by central Government that it opposes. We have been very clear about where we want to see housing delivered.

“This administration has been very clear to deliver affordable houses and we need to deliver that. What we need to make sure is that the Government understand that building new houses will not necessarily provide the suitable or affordable houses that we want to see.

“Northumberland is not like Docklands or the Manhattan skyline. It is a very special place and I want everybody who lives in Northumberland that wants to contribute to a local plan to do so.”

The council’s deputy leader, Coun Richard Wearmouth, was critical of the Government’s housing targets and claimed Northumberland would be “concreted over”.

He said: “This is a really important paper, but it is only really important because of the mess we could potentially be landed in by the Government. The Government is increasing our housing target by 222% while it lowers targets in London and Newcastle.

“They want to concrete over green fields in Northumberland and are threatening green belt deletion, which we will absolutely fend off. This allows us to make sure we have got the evidence base and to make sure we are ahead of the game.

“We don’t want a Labour housing free-for-all. It will lead to our infrastructure becoming overloaded and places that do want houses won’t get them – for the simple fact it will be so much easier to concrete over more countryside around Morpeth, Cramlington, Ponteland and the like.”

The council had delivered around 2,000 affordable homes since 2017 with a further 1,400 in the pipeline. However, Coun Sanderson accepted there was more to do in rural areas.

Coun Colin Horncastle, the council’s cabinet member for housing, admitted there were problems around housing in the county.

He said: “This paper allows us to properly identify some of the problems we have got. Housing is a huge issue.

“This allows us to drill down to where the problems in housing are. We have got problems on the coast with holida home and the lack of rental accommodation in the rural countryside where rents are really high. This will look at that.”

Despite the Conservative’s opposition to higher housing targets, figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed that the number of houses built in the county in recent years have exceeded the annual housing target by an average of 182% since 2016/17. The Tories blamed this on the previous Labour administration – something Labour leader Scott Dickinson branded “categorically untrue”.

Speaking on the latest comments, Coun Dickinson said: “This is a scaremongering tactic. Comments around concreting over Northumberland are very silly.

“The new rules will allow communities and councils to lead on housing development for community benefit and need. The council should be actively working with the Government to attract money and development in areas of need and make sure infrastructure is available in those areas.

“Under the Conservative Government, communities were overdeveloped and didn’t have the infrastructure they needed. This is about making sure building happens in communities that need housing.

“Councils will have the power to refuse applications that don’t demonstrate need.”