Council 'hit teams' to speed up New Forest housebuilding

NEW FOREST District Council has launched “hit teams” to speed up development after being accused of falling behind government housebuilding targets.

The authority has made a list of actions to improve the situation outside the national park after being told to draw up a plan for how it will meet the levels worked out by a Whitehall calculation.

The measures include a pro-active “hit team” approach to resolve planning hold-ups, and working with providers to speed up infrastructure delivery.

New developers are being welcomed into the area, a masterplan is being explored for regenerating Totton town centre, and 600 new council homes are planned to be built by 2026.

However, when the measures were agreed by NFDC’s ruling Conservative cabinet, deputy leader Cllr Edward Heron pointed out the district had only missed the housing target because it had changed from the one the council had last planned for more than a decade ago.

Cllr Heron, who is also cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, said: “I do take umbrage against being judged by a target that was not the target originally set out.

“It’s a tanker and not a speed boat. The development industry can’t change course on a die.”

A cabinet report explained that the original target had been included in NFDC’s Local Plan, back in 2009.

It was signed off by a government inspector and took account of the then regional strategy to direct development to less environmentally-sensitive areas in the south-east.

But those targets changed two years ago with a new calculation – known as the Housing Delivery Test – which affected authorities, like NFDC, which had not renewed their Local Plan in the last five years.

Consequently it found the council to have met just 35% of its revised target of 2,415 homes for the three years to 2018.

Cllr Heron commented on the action plan: “We’re required to produce one, and we have produced one.”

NFDC is in the final stages of adopting a new Local Plan, which sets out where to build about 10,500 new homes by 2036.

This will resolve the issue by formally addressing housing requirements with wide-ranging development policies, which controversially include allocating construction on green belt land.

Cllr Jill Cleary, the cabinet member for housing, pointed out NFDC spending on housing project was set to grow from £16m this year to £27m by 2022/23 as the supply of council homes increases.

Investment includes new temporary housing facilities in Fawley, Hordle and Lymington, plus a shared home ownership scheme due to be launched by NFDC in April.

Cllr Cleary said: “We don’t stand still in housing – we can’t as there is much to do.”