I share resident’s disappointment at R4U led Uttlesford District Council’s decision to, for the fourth time, delay publishing a draft local plan.
Residents deserve certainty. Every council across the country must create a local plan for future housing. The decisions to delay the draft local plan exposes communities across Uttlesford to continued speculative development.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out a standard method to assess housing need. The Government has made it clear that the number of homes calculated for each council is intended to be the starting point in determining how many homes an authority could deliver, it is not a target. For R4U to start blaming Government’s ‘imposition’ of housing numbers for their delays is simply kicking the can down the road, yet again, dodging the difficult decisions on where new housing and infrastructure is needed in Uttlesford.
Under R4U there is no long-term vision to address the needs of our communities and they have repeatedly failed to put residents first. Their recklessness cost taxpayers millions when they carelessly mismanaged the Stansted Airport appeal, UDC went into special measures under their watch for poor planning decisions, potentially taking decisions away from the local council – the list goes on.
Running a council is about making difficult decisions not telling people what they want to hear. At the heart of planning are the very homes we live in, the schools our children go to, the hospitals we visit and the roads that take us there.
I urge R4U to stop trying to score political points and work to progress the local plan to ensure here in Uttlesford we have the right housing and infrastructure to support it.
