07 Sep 2024
The district council’s announcement that it would be fast-tracking the Local Plan – the blueprint for future development in the district – might not seem a big deal to many parts of the community, but it is actually of vital importance to everybody living here in St Albans.
Where thousands of new homes – and the figure has just increased under the new Labour Government – will be located affects us all, especially as 81.6 per cent of the district is designated Green Belt.
We asked SADC leader Cllr Paul de Kort to explain further details about the process, starting with whether accelerating would evade the Government’s increased housing targets?
He said: “Accelerating the Local Plan does not evade the new housing targets proposed by the Government. However, if we do not speed up the process, we could be forced to delay submission of a Local Plan by two to three years in order to take on board the proposals as they come into effect.
“Importantly, this delay would mean that we would be less able to defend against speculative developments in areas which could cause the most harm to the Green Belt.
“Without a Local Plan in place, speculative developments could go forward in an uncontrolled way without the necessary infrastructure.
“By bringing forward the adoption of a Local Plan, we can deliver the urgently needed new housing, including family-sized starter homes and social rent properties, as soon as possible. To delay the Local Plan now would have serious consequences on our ability to get these homes delivered.
“Once the Local Plan is adopted, we will have to start work on an update straight away should the Government’s proposals for higher housing numbers come into force.”
So how much has the timeframe for submission been condensed?
“We have brought forward the Regulation 19 publication of our Local Plan by around one month to late September.
“The scheduled date for submitting it to the Government for examination by an independent planning inspector has been brought forward four months to this December.
“To ensure the smooth running of the accelerated process, officers have been working additional hours.”
Finally, does he think local residents and other parties will have enough time to respond to the Regulation 19 consultation?
“Residents, businesses and other parties still have enough time to participate in the Regulation 19 consultation period which is for six weeks and one day, slightly longer than the statutory minimum of six weeks.”
