COUNCILLORS have once again agreed that the number of new homes planned for Basingstoke and Deane should be rejected.

As previously reported, government calculations suggest as many as 17,820 new homes need to be built in the borough by the end of 2039.

Borough council documents reveal that the authority need to build 7,703 houses more than it currently has in the pipeline.

It's part of the update process of a document called the local plan, which sets the rules surrounding the development of the borough and can be used by developers as a blueprint on where and how to build houses.

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At a meeting of the borough council’s economic, planning and housing committee held on Monday, September 5 councillors unanimously voted in favor of recommending that housing numbers should be rejected.

This is the second time the committee has made the decision, in September 2021, councillors unanimously voted in favour of rejecting the number of new homes, which is set under the government’s standard methodology procedure.

It has since been revealed that the figures have been calculated using the Standard Method, which uses data which is 13 years out of date.

The motion was put forward by the leader of the Labour group Cllr Andrew McCormick who asked that the council's cabinet now rethink the number.

He said: "I would like to put forward a motion that we reject the 17,800 figure and ask the cabinet to re-engage with the new government with a view to understanding why that figure is put to us. I ask that we also have another figure taking into account the new census data that is available. I am not sure what the implications are for that but in the plan I see some emerging strong evidence that we will struggle to meet those numbers in terms of transport and the water supply so I want to reject the number."

The leader of the Basingstoke and Deane Independent group Cllr Paul Harvey agreed.

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He said: "I agree and second his motion I just think it is the elephant in the room and we have been round the houses on this and it is coloring everything we debate and discuss. Unless this changes we will be forever be in a situation where we will have to choose between doing something for our residents or doing something we are told to do. For Basingstoke and Deane it is the right thing to do. I know where my loyalties lie and they lie with the residents of my borough. We all share that."

A key role of the local plan is to also put together the spatial strategy for the borough. It contains several policies for future development, including the importance of the climate emergency and brownfield first, as well as a draft, shortlist of sites that would make up the roughly 8,000 homes not already allocated. 

The committee also agreed to reject the current spacial strategy plan during the same meeting.

Cabinet is expected to meet to make a decision on the recommendations later this month.