LETTER: Final nail in coffin of Localism

It was reported in the press recently (publicsectorexecutive.com) that a report urges the Government to bring housing within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime to ‘relieve hard-pressed local authority budgets’.
Your lettersYour letters
Your letters

One of the authors, John Rhodes, was appointed chair of a new Government panel launched by planning minister Brandon Lewis MP last week. The panel is tasked with streamlining councils’ planning processes.

Mr Rhodes said: ‘Remedying the chronic under-provision of housing should be an economic and a social priority.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘At present, however, developers are denied access to the national infrastructure planning process for housing proposals and thereby denied the use of the single most effective regime for delivering development.

‘With appropriate safeguards in place, the use of the NSIP programme would transform the ability of the private sector to make a meaningful contribution to the national housing crisis’.

The NSIP regime is a result of the Planning Act 2008 to consent to nationally significant infrastructure projects, allowing promoters to apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate for a consent order.

We will all understand what that means following our experience with the Planning Inspectorate.

This is the final nail in the coffin of Localism.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It will be interesting to see if this happens how many council houses or affordable houses will be allocated by the Inspectorate to Horsham and how many developers actually build them.

Social housing is cabinet member Cllr Philip Circus’ portfolio, which of course links to Cllr Vickers’ chief planning role in cabinet.

And so just what are the pair doing about this impending crisis? Has our MP Mr Quin met them to bang their heads together to come up with solutions for our district?

VALERIE WISE

Owlscastle Close, Horsham

__

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage at www.wscountytimes.co.uk

2 Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wscountytimes

3 Follow us on Twitter @wscountytimes

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

The County Times – always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.