With new, higher, Government housing targets for Southend and other areas, and a seemingly Government focus on the south east, these are even more worrying times for our Green Belt, and indeed our urban areas.
The 1.5M target for the country is now firmly embedded by successive Governments, so I don’t see that shifting soon. And according to the Deputy Prime Minister ‘councils will have to review their green belt land if needed to meet their own target, identifying and prioritising ‘grey belt’.
People need decent and affordable housing, and in Southend, we need more social housing. But as a resort area, with the attraction of the sea, we are many people’s ideal place to live. So developers are not necessarily aligned to need, rather more to profit.
Labelling people as NIMBYs when they stand up to defend their areas is now just a cheap shot in my view. What we really need is joined up thinking between Government and developers. Developers are businesses and as such need to make a profit, Government is supposed to look after the people. So the two need to find a middle way where both sides are satisfied.
There is no doubt that planning is a laborious business. Having worked in and around it for over 50 years, for both Councils and developers, I have always felt the problem is Government based. The system is too hide bound in bureaucracy. But that is not to say there should be a free for all. The local plan process is long and not very ‘sexy’ for the population to get too involved in.
I don’t for one minute blame the Councils – they are trying to juggle hundreds of balls in the air with years of underfunding. I don’t really blame developers – they have to make a return – but the amount of finance needed for major projects is a barrier when they have to pay for roads and other facilities. Its right they should pay for some, but if Government want this level of housing it needs to lead the way. If it wants growth then it has to pump prime the areas that can take it, and need it, by funding more of the infrastructure before the developers move in. Government needs to be a catalyst to a new way of building our homes.
Locally, the original Government target for Southend was 1,173 homes pa leading to 19,941 between 2023-40. The new figure is 1,405 with a total of 23,885. Making what was always a K2 into Mount Everest. We can’t even meet that target if we built on our Green Belt.
To avoid that we will have to look to the urban areas even more – and then what are we building – high rise. This is why developments such as Better Queensway and Fossetts Farm are so important to get started – they won’t solve the problem entirely but they will ease the process.
Castle Point too have a large target and as part of their local plan have been offered Green Belt sites for housing in Hadleigh which will have a major impact on Hadleigh and Leigh.
Hopefully, they will be rejected by the Council who have vowed to protect the Green Belt. This land is not ‘grey belt’ it is as ‘green’ as it can be. Government favour key areas – such as those near commuter transport hubs – where their default answer to development will be ‘yes’. So what price our Green Belt?
Southend has objected to the Hadleigh sites and Councillors backed a motion to ensure that, if the land is included, Southend will consider very carefully opposing them before the Local Plan Inspector.
Leigh’s juxtaposition with Hadleigh cannot be underestimated in heritage terms, and the space between them is important to avoid coalescence, ribbon development along the Thames and the desecration of two historic centres. Hadleigh Castle is a grade I listed building and the ONLY scheduled monument in south Essex. That means something. But the castle building was built surrounded by parkland and fittingly carrying on that tradition, is now a country park
The Green Belt may be a planning concept, but that too is part of our national heritage. It is there for a reason. We fool with it at our peril for our future wellbeing, pride of place and identity.
We all understand the need for housing, but once the land is lost, there is no turning back and quality of life will be history too.
Think again Government – spread the load
Cllr Carole Mulroney
Councillor for Leigh Ward
Southend on Sea City Council