Now that the General Election is over, EHDC are now considering the potential impacts of our new government. While there will probably be more future, new initiatives, two that have already been announced are causing concerns – housing and devolution.
The new government is committed to building 1.5 million new homes during this parliament, so by 2029, and has announced new targets for districts, boroughs and cities. East Hampshire has been given an annual target of 1074 new homes. This compares with the proposal in our draft local plan of 574, so an 87% increase, and of course this has to be built in the 43% of the district that is outside the South Downs National Park. We have already started conversations with the government about the structure of these targets given the presence of the national park within the district.
The government is also consulting until mid-September on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework that governs all development. Included in the proposals is an aim to increase the supply of affordable homes, and this will likely result in greater pressure on builders to include larger numbers of affordable units within new developments. The government intends to meet with the building industry to try to accelerate delivery and it will be useful to see these proposals. At present the industry delivers only as many homes as it can sell at the profit margins that it wants.
The government is also keen to accelerate devolution within England. There have been a number of failed proposals in the past to create a Hampshire-wide authority, with some proposals including the Isle of Wight and/or the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch complex. Hampshire County Council have started discussions with district, borough and unitary council leaders to begin formulation of a response to government, including whether to propose a mayoral authority. While these activities will take some time to conclude it is clear that the new government is far more disposed to devolution than the previous administration, so it may be a question of when not if devolution occurs in Hampshire.
Finally starting in October you will be able to put glass out for collection every two weeks, rather than every four weeks. The change, which coincides with the start of the new bin collection calendars, means that every time you put out your grey recycling bin you should also put out your glass container. New bin collection calendars will be available on the EHDC web site from late September.
Charles Louisson