Let local people decide on housing targets say Lib Dems

20 Apr 2009

Local Liberal Democrat councillor, Simon Hicks has backed calls on Gordon Brown to suspend the Government's unrealistic regional housing targets, and instead to give local councils the power to decide what is best for their own communities. Simon says: "Labour's proposals are based on a 'predict and provide' assessment that bears no relation to current economic circumstances or employment prospects."

The Government-imposed target requires 17,100 homes to be built in Mid Sussex over the next twenty years but with no additional Government funding for the necessary infrastructure to allow such large scale development to go ahead - and with house prices falling, the funding from developer contributions is likely to be much reduced.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says "Let's build our national housing target from local targets that reflect need on the ground. Bottom up. That means trusting people who know best rather than picking numbers out of the air. Central Government's job then becomes one of avoiding national housing bubbles like the one that has just burst…"

Local Lib Dem campaigner, Serena Tierney adds: "It is important that the quality of new housing is not sacrificed to achieve these targets. Mid Sussex Council should use the Core Strategy currently being developed to impose strict guidelines to ensure new houses achieve proper standards of sustainability, such as high insulation standards. We cannot afford to leave loopholes in the local planning requirements that might allow developers to build substandard housing to meet these top-down standards."

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