Press release from Andrew George, MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly:
The government’s announced planning policy risks putting “greed before need” and is “destined to fail”.
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, launched changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, which the government says will meet its ambitious housebuilding targets – one and a half million by the end of this Parliament.
The Prime Minister says the government will “back builders, not blockers”. But Andrew George says all the government will do is put “greed before need”. He said: “The Prime Minister has set up a false battle between “builders and blockers” to push its reforms through.
“No government has met its housebuilding targets (unless the government builds them itself), and this government is no less doomed to failure. This is because setting housebuilding targets is based on a naive delusion that private developers would be willing to collude with government to drive down the price of completed homes, and to generally act against their commercial interests. Unfortunately, all mainstream political parties are adherents to this delusion.”
Andrew George has campaigned for housing justice for 40 years. Between his two spells in Parliament, he has been a housing professional, most recently as Chief Executive of Cornwall Community Land Trust (CCLT), a charity which works with local communities to deliver affordable housing.
He continued: “House building targets are a means to an end. The end, of course, being the meeting (or at least reduction) of housing need. If instead, the government set targets to meet need, it would provide for more creative opportunities to engage communities, rather than to alienate them, as now.
“Cornwall is one of the best examples of where the government’s policy fails. Cornwall has not just met its targets. It has exceeded them, and is one of the fastest growing places in the UK, almost trebling the housing stock in the last 60 years.
“Yet the housing problems of local families have got worse. Setting and meeting high housing targets doesn’t work in places like Cornwall, because developers make more money building homes for property investors (eg second and holiday homes owners) than in meeting housing need.”
Meanwhile, outside Truro, the Wain Homes development of 274 homes on what was Dudman Farm has been given the go-ahead. As Lee Trewhela reported:
‘The final approval comes with fewer affordable homes and less public open space than originally submitted. There were 125 public objections and no submissions in support of the plans which have been approved with 18 conditions.’
Well, there’s a surprise. And talk about rubbing salt in the wounds, as the trees are felled and the meadows erased:
[Local people]’are particularly concerned that they may no longer be able to access a field which is earmarked within the development for “biodiversity net gain” – a move they say is pointless as the field is already a haven for flora and fauna.’
What’s the most effective way to make people feel powerless in the face of big business? Ignore their concerns. Dismiss them as nimbys. Put greed before need.
Politicians need to be very careful not to create a disillusioned, disenchanted electorate who then fall prey to the lies and blandishments of the far right. Take a look at the US!
