Here’s what I can tell you so far –
The Labour Government has launched an eight week consultation on changes to the planning system.
The consultation document is 69 pages long. The proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework are pages long and there are annexes too.
The bottom line is that the Labour Government are not only going to continue with top-down housing targets, but that the housing target for St Albans is going to increase significantly – possibly by up to 75%.
As you can hear from the clip below, I had lots of questions to ask the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday.
I’m meeting with St Albans District Council leadership and officials next week to understand their issues and concerns about what the proposed changes could mean for our area.
My initial reading is that there are some positives: eg a greater focus on building more social and affordable homes, and potentially more powers for local authorities to ensure that infrastructure comes first. My long-running campaign to scrap the Government-imposed cap on planning fees might finally come to fruition too.
The Lib Dem-led St Albans District Council are powering ahead to deliver a Local Plan as the only way of protecting greenbelt sites from speculative developments (after the previous Conservative administration produced two that failed). But the Labour Government’s consultation is a real curve-ball and we’re just not sure yet how this will affect our local area or the Local Plan process.
It will take a few weeks to go through the details and work out whether any exemptions, exceptions or protections exist for Greenbelt sites, the whole purpose of which is to stop urban sprawl.
I will keep local residents updated on social media and also through my monthly newsletters.