A PLAN to slow down the number of new houses being built in Basingstoke and Deane has been put forward, to give infrastructure, facilities and services the chance to catch up.

The borough council’s current target of 850 homes a year, which is based on a national formula set by central government, would be cut to under 700 each year for five years from 2025 under a fresh ‘stepped trajectory’ approach put forward by the new administration.

This will be discussed at the council’s economic, planning and housing committee meeting next week on Thursday, September 7.

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A housing figure needs to be decided for the next Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan, which will guide development and planning decisions in the borough to 2040.

The local plan update was paused by the previous administration following concerns from residents and councillors about the number of new homes that the government was mandating for the borough. 

In response, the new cabinet is proposing a housing number that meets the borough’s needs for new homes while also taking account of the characteristics of the area.

The cabinet is now keen to consult with residents on the draft local [lan, including the stepped trajectory approach to the housing number, early next year.

As well as debating the housing number, the committee meeting will also give councillors the opportunity to give their views on the spatial strategy for where homes could be built.

Meetings with parish and town councils across the borough to listen to their views are due to take place later this year. A borough-wide consultation will get underway in January 2024 to give residents, businesses, organisations, landowners, developers and interested groups the opportunity to have their say on the draft plan.

This will give time to review the draft plan in light of comments from the committee and to complete the detailed technical assessments that have to be carried out on the updated draft plan before it can be published.

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Cabinet member for strategic planning and infrastructure, Cllr Andy Konieczko, said: “As a new administration, we recognise how important the local plan is in giving our residents certainty about future development in their areas and setting higher standards for all new homes built in our area.

“We can’t wait any longer, and re-starting the local plan process has been one of our top priorities since we took over in May. 

"The updated plan will introduce a more ambitious policy framework, building upon and strengthening the existing adopted plan, to meet the area’s needs and the council’s aims, for example in tackling climate change and the ecological emergency.

“We’re all agreed that our area needs high-quality, genuinely affordable homes, built in the right places and with the necessary supporting services.

"In reality, this means that we need to slow down housebuilding to give our infrastructure – including new schools, doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries, roads and sewerage treatment facilities – a chance to catch up.

“Our options are severely limited by the planning straitjacket imposed on us by the government. We’re still pushing for them to change this to take into account local circumstances.

With little support or guidance coming from the government, the stepped trajectory approach to the housing number – setting a lower figure for the first five years of the new plan – enables residents to get the benefits of a new Local Plan while also helping us to get the infrastructure that our borough desperately needs.

“We’re an administration that’s listening and working hard to find ambitious solutions to meet residents’ needs and move our borough forward.”

For more information on the local plan update visit basingstoke.gov.uk/LPU.