ADD UPDATE, 7 October 2024: The new government has instructed Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) to find room for another 3,675 homes – on top of the already challenging requirement to deliver 9,675 over the next 15 years. Although brownfield sites are part of the solution, it means that swathes of much-loved countryside are potentially under threat. We are due to get a better idea of the direction of travel when EBC publishes an options document towards the end of the autumn. That is when we need to be on full alert.
“The conundrum that has yet to be resolved is the mismatch between the executive estates on attractive rural or semi-rural sites that developers want to build and what is actually needed – affordable homes in or near existing urban centres,” says ADD chair David Ashe. “Unless they think outside the box, the government’s ambitions to build 1.5 million new dwellings will not necessarily make owning a home more affordable. There’s currently little sign of the imaginative thinking required.”
The UK now has substantially more houses per head of population than it did 50 years ago – yet prices have soared dramatically in that time.
Whilst ADD recognises the need for more housing, we are strongly of the view that it should be determined strategically and collaboratively by the planning authority after consulting local residents and businesses. We know from the previous Eastleigh Local Plan, and from experience elsewhere, that this is too important to be left to developers, whose objectives will inevitably be to maximise profits rather than protect the local environment and quality of life. In particular, attention needs to be paid to the impact on local services and our already over-stretched roads, accentuating the need to keep car use to a minimum.
What is more, quality is important or the dream of owning your own home can quickly turn sour. According to the Design Council, 75% of new housing schemes are either poor or mediocre – another reason not to trust developers to get it right on their own.
As if the picture is not already complicated enough, the government’s requirement to build 13,350 homes in Eastleigh is unrealistic. As EBC acknowledge, the government targets could well result in thousands more homes being built than the borough will need over the next 15 years, according to population projections. And developers will only build houses they can be confident of selling at a profit. There is also a serious skill shortage in the industry, which is bound to get worse as a high proportion of building workers are over 50 years of age.
Of course, ADD cannot influence government policy, but it is our intention to play a constructive role locally, pressing for the best possible outcomes. In short, the right houses in the right places.
We will continue to keep you updated as events unfold.
