What the Queen’s speech said on housing and what it could mean for Sussex
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Prince Charles, standing in for the Queen at the reopening of Parliament, outlined the government’s priorities for the next year.
Reform of the planning system was announced to ‘give residents more involvement in local development’.
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Hide AdSecretary of State Michael Gove is due to unveil a Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill in the Commons later today (Wednesday May 11).
According to the government this would ‘improve the planning system to give communities a louder voice, making sure developments are beautiful, green and accompanied by new infrastructure and affordable housing’.
A new approach to environmental assessments would be introduced, a new non-negotiable levy would be set locally to deliver infrastructure, and the process for local plans would be simplified and standardised so they can be completed quicker.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Gove said communities had been ‘resistant’ to new developments because the infrastructure needed ‘have not come with those houses’, while plans had often being ‘overridden by distant inspectors’.
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Hide AdHe spoke about ‘numbers being plonked down just to reach an arbitrary target’.
Mr Gove added: “We are going to do everything we can to ensure that more of the right homes are built in the right way in the right places.”
He went on to say he did not want to be ‘tied to a Procrustean bed’.
But with Mr Gove saying the country needs more homes, it is yet to be seen whether councils in Sussex will have the power to put forward successful arguments for lowering their housing figures, currently imposed on them by central government.