Council leader 'livid' with new housing targets

Richard Clewer said he wants to avoid "developer-led cookie cutter estates" popping up in the countryside

The leader of one of the West's largest councils has said he is "livid" with the new government's proposed housing targets.

Plans published on 30 July show an 81% increase in the numbers expected to be built in Wiltshire Council's area, up to 3,500 per year.

Wiltshire Council's Conservative leader, Richard Clewer, said it was the equivalent of building "another Salisbury" over the next 15 years - and hit back at claims rural areas have not built enough homes.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner said Labour's plan for 1.5 million new homes across the country “won’t be without controversy”, but changes were required to make housing more affordable.

The annual national housing target would be increased from 300,000 homes to just over 370,000, and the rules will require 50% of new housing to be affordable “with a focus on social rent”.

Ms Rayner said the plans marked "a significant step to getting Britain building again".

Although the first port of call for development will be brownfield land, the plans will also facilitate building on low-quality green belt land, set to be reclassified as “grey belt”.

Wiltshire housing targets are rising from 1,917 houses a year to 3,476

But Mr Clewer stated that the reforms drive “a bulldozer through the concept of plan-led development combined with public input".

“In Wiltshire, housing targets are rising by 81%, from 1,917 houses a year to 3,476," he said.

“They are proposing a new allocation system that will dump the large majority of these houses in greenfields and, in some cases, green-belt sites in rural England."

Mr Clewer added that under the new plans, cities like London - which have greater demand for housing and more suitable infrastructure - will be allowed to continue building "far below their fair share of housing".

He said: “Why should rural England be expected to build the houses that London cannot bring itself to build?

“The hard won requirement to make new developments ‘beautiful’ and not to build more soulless modern estates is being dropped."

'Housing need'

However, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said "all areas of the country must play their part".

"Wiltshire’s target has been set objectively and is in line with local housing need," the spokesperson said.

“We cannot continue with the high rents and unaffordable house prices that we see across the country."

The reforms have been announced just over three weeks after the election and the consultation is open to public comment until 24 September.