Dr Luke Evans, MP for Bosworth, welcomes confirmation that the duty to co-operate and accommodate overspill from cities who can’t meet their share of housing targets, will be removed in upcoming legislation.
Five Leicestershire MPs have previously raised concerns with the Planning Minister, Stuart Andrew, about the overspill of homes which will be forced onto their constituencies as Leicester have been unable to meet their planning numbers.
The three major political parties have all agreed that we need to be building more homes each year. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both pledged to build 300,000 new houses per year. Last year the Lib Dems passed a motion and increased this to 380,000 per year, with party leader Sir Ed Davey saying “our Local Authorities do want more houses”.
In a recent meeting the MPs cited an announcement by Leicester City Council that it would be unable to meet a housing target obligation of building a further 39,400 homes between 2020 and 2036. The city stated they would not be able to accommodate 18,700 of the homes and are relying instead on the legal duty to co-operate, meaning neighbouring district and borough councils will have to take more of the housing quota from the city.
It is estimated that the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth will have to allocate 2,992 extra homes – the third highest of all district councils.
Following the meeting the Housing Minister wrote to the MPs and said “The standard method for assessing local housing need does not provide a target. Councils provide their own housing requirement once they have considered their ability to meet their own needs in their area. This includes taking local circumstances and constraints into account and working with neighbouring authorities if it would be more appropriate for needs to be met elsewhere.”
In a second reading of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which is coming forward Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, confirmed that this onerous obligation will be removed.
The Rt Hon Michael Gove, said “We will also end the so-called duty to co-operate, which has often led some urban authorities to offload their responsibility for development on to other areas in a way that has meant that we have had not urban regeneration but suburban sprawl.”
Dr Luke Evans MP said “I was very pleased to hear the Secretary of State confirm that, under the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, this onerous obligation will be removed. We all agree that the country needs more homes: the Government campaigned on a pledge to build 300,000 new homes per year, and the Lib Dems said last year that they believe we need even more homes and subsequently agreed to increase their target to 380,000.
“The Housing Secretary also referenced ‘suburban scrawl’ which is something our area is currently experiencing as the lack of an up-to-date Local Plan means speculative and piecemeal developments are pushed through against residents wishes and local infrastructure is struggling as a result.
“I will keep campaigning in Westminster to assess how the removal of this duty will impact our area and the housing obligations for my constituency.”
The Statement of Common Ground, released in May, which detailed the overspill requirement has now been withdrawn and the Strategic Growth Plan for Leicester and Leicestershire say revised versions will be published in due course.
