March 11, 2020
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, has told councils and communities they will need to consider building on greenbelt land if the national housing crisis is to be addressed.
Robert Jenrick was speaking at the House of Lords on 27 February and said the government would “not shirk or abdicate” from its responsibility for tackling the acute housing need and would ensure the building of “substantially” more homes, which he acknowledged would involve “difficult decisions”.
“We have a huge task as a government,” he said. “We built more homes last year than any year in the last 30, but even that was not enough and did not start to truly tackle the affordability challenges we have. So we need to build substantially more homes in all parts of the country and all types of homes too, which will make difficult choices for government, for local councils and local communities.”
Jenrick said, “You’ll need to reimagine high streets and town centres, you will need to build on green belt land, restoring heritage buildings and where you do build in the open countryside you will want to be doing it in a way which we will be proud of in years to come.”
Jenrick said the way to build public support for these new homes was “to build not just houses, but homes, and build not just homes, but places”.
Edward Yuill, Managing Director of Cecil M Yuill Ltd, a partner in the Laverick Park Garden Village proposal, which has been criticised by a group of local objectors for proposing new homes on private land between the Fellgate Estate and the A184 in South Tyneside, commented, “The South Tyneside Draft Local Plan (DLP) acknowledges a housing requirement of 7,000 homes, although we feel this is too low against need and a more accurate requirement is almost 9,000 homes, and is suggesting the construction of 5,425 homes on 80 sites across the Borough.”
“18 of those proposed sites are on Green Belt land, providing 2,391 homes, yet the Laverick Park Garden Community which in my view represents an eminently more sustainable option, could provide 3,000 new homes, has been ignored by South Tyneside Council.”
“I am at a complete loss as to why South Tyneside Council think that it is preferable to release 18 housing sites from the Green Belt scattered in less sustainable villages where the infrastructure may simply be unable to cope, when there is an alternative at Laverick Park, which is located at one of the most sustainable locations in the Borough, contained on all four sides by major physical infrastructure and is being planned as a holistic self-sustaining new community, where new infrastructure and community facilities will be built-in from the start.”
“I applaud Mr Jenrick’s comments that we should be planning new places, not just adding more houses to existing settlements. We have a bold and ambitious vision to create an exemplary new community at Laverick Park by embracing the best that town and country can offer. Place-making and high quality design, alongside embedding cutting-edge environmental benefits which will minimise or even neutralise the carbon footprint of our development, all sit at the heart of Laverick Park. We want to create a 21st century new community that the Region and future generations can be proud of. I’m afraid that this sits in stark contrast to the proposed sites which are identified in the DLP, which will simply represent housing estate extension to existing villages. I worry that if the Draft Plan is not altered now, this would be a huge missed opportunity for South Tyneside.”
“Whilst Laverick Park is to be built on Green Belt land, the scheme also includes 85 hectares of publicly accessible green infrastructure and 5 hectares of new sports fields. This is in stark contrast to the DLP sites which would include little or no open space or playing fields. In fact many of the DLP sites will actually result in the loss of existing open space and playing fields by building on existing facilities which are valued by their local communities spread over the Borough, whilst each one of which would cause additional construction traffic disruption.”
“One of the reasons leveled at its omission from the DLP is that it is on Green Belt land, despite the fact that the Council’s own DLP confirms the need to build over 2,000 houses on such land, so we welcome the Government acknowledgment that if we are to provide a solution to the housing shortage, then Green Belt land development must be considered.”
“In addition, we are proposing that 600 of the 3,000 homes are affordable or social housing, whilst the scheme’s proximity to the existing Fellgate Metro Station and provision of pathways, cycleways and a proposed Metro Shuttle internal bus provides environmentally friendly transport solutions for the new community.”
The development is also close to the new International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) which is expected to deliver 5,200 jobs by 2027 and an additional 3,700 jobs by 2031 all of whom will be looking for housing stock nearby.
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