THE borough local plan (BLP) has been formally adopted by council after over a decade in the making after the ruling Tory group voted to approve.
Many speeches were made at the extraordinary full council meeting on the local plan that earmarks multiple sites for thousands of homes within the Royal Borough until 2033.
The plan was found to be sound and legally compliant by the government-appointed independent planning inspector Louise Phillips after rigorous examinations, public hearings, and public consultations.
At the meeting on Tuesday, February 8, 22 Conservative councillors voted for, and 17 opposition members voted against.
Here are some of the speeches made by the ruling Tories:
Cllr David Coppinger (Con: Bray), lead member for planning
“This must be the most important paper I’ve ever brought to this council. It’s not just the vision for development of the Royal Borough, it includes many new and revised policies that complement it.
“It defines how many dwellings we need and where they should go. This is not so much about buildings, it’s about homes. Homes for families. It’s about making sure within the mix we have enough family homes and most important affordable ones.”
Cllr Coppinger laid out what could happen if the BLP was not passed.
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“The most likely is that we would be instructed to adopt it as has happened elsewhere in the country. South Oxfordshire for example and there are many others I can quote.
“The second option is far worse. Every developer that has had their proposals rejected could submit a planning application.
“Even though we are likely to refuse, experience shows that on appeal an inspector will agree to them because the housing need outweighs everything else.
“Every ward has a long list of sites that have been rejected, mostly in the green belt.
“So, what are the right number of houses? Well, the inspector carefully sets out the situation. She says the 2018 based housing projections were based on too shorter periods and were not representative, and therefore there was no justification in lowering the housing numbers.”
Cllr Coppinger said the old BLP is “out of date” as it was produced in 1999 under a Liberal Democrat-run council and should have been replaced “many years ago”.
Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams), leader of the council
“All local authorities, of which the Royal Borough is one, must have an up-to-date local plan. In fact, the Secretary of State Michael Gove reaffirmed that commitment last week in the levelling up white paper last, the clear expectation that every local planning authority should have an up-to-date local plan in place by late 2023.
“We don’t have one. Our last local plan dates from the 1990s. Therefore we need a plan as quickly as possible, not only to provide a structured approach to development but to prevent speculative development and a developers free for all across the Royal Borough.
“Thankfully, we have such a plan before us this evening. A plan granted which may have taken a while to produce and it certainly predates my time on the council by a significant period.
“A plan that has been through a rigorous process of examination in public. A plan that has been found sound by an independent professional planning inspector.
“Not only sound but subject of the inclusion of the main modifications as part of the agenda and recommendations tonight has been assessed in a strong positive term indeed.
“The inspector has endorsed the fundamental approach to sustainable growth. Endorsed our housing numbers, strategic site locations, employment designations, and our broad approach to shaping the borough over the next 11 years, the remainder of the plan period.”
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He added: “We do not have enough brownfield land to accommodate all the housing growth we need without obliterating our employment space.
“I am not in the business of going around gobbling up every single employment site in the borough just to put new homes on. We need economic growth as well.
“We could just reject the plan outright. That would be foolish I would suggest to do so on the back of that positive inspector’s report.
“The logical conclusion to that would be it would be imposed upon us and we would lose all control of the planning process.”
Cllr Donna Stimson (Con: St Mary’s), lead member for climate change, sustainability, parks, and countryside
Cllr Stimson listed some of the policies within the BLP that protect and enhance biodiversity and sustainability, such as SP1 that “addresses the impact of climate change,” as a result of public consultation.
She said: “These policies are complicated and different depending on where the development is.
“We need our planners to have a BLP that has been carefully examined to act as a lens through which to examine each application.
“There are another 14 policies in this BLP that include nature conservation, biodiversity, renewable energy, and air pollution. Taking as a whole, this is why we need to adopt the BLP without delay.
“Our borough will be a more sustainable borough with this BLP than without one.”
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