Letter: There is nothing in the recent proclamations of Michael Gove in the national press that materially alters the council’s local planning policy framework.

SIR – Mr Welsh of Milford is regrettably misinformed (‘Catch-up needed on housing’, A&T Letters 16th June) in his reading of the planning policy situation.

There is nothing in the recent proclamations of Michael Gove in the national press that materially alters the council’s local planning policy framework.

The adopted local plan, against which, by law, we consider planning applications remains in full force, and it is many of the sites allocated in that plan that are currently making their way through the planning application process now, having been allocated for development by the Local Plan.

Should there be a change in national planning policy, at that time we would consider whether the plan would need to be changed, but any future plan is more likely to need to identify additional sites for development, to meet an extended timescale over which a revised plan would operate. This is something the council’s administration will need to give careful thought to.

All political parties have highlighted the need to deliver homes, particularly to help address the affordable housing challenges in areas where land is constrained. There are many advantages to the district of having a national park in its heart, however, it constrains vast swathes of the district from having the necessary capacity to provide much needed homes.

Our Local Plan provides certainty, and we are committed to delivering the growth and opportunity it has allocated within it to the benefit of all.

Cllr Derek Tipp

Cabinet member for Planning and Economy, New Forest District Council