North Derbyshire Tory councillors want Government to reconsider housing target plans that threaten Green Belt

The Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group, Charlotte Cupit, has revealed how she and four other Conservative councillors – including Conservative Group Leader Alex Dale and Cllrs Stephen Clough, Mark Foster, and Neil Baker – have requisitioned the council to call an Extraordinary Meeting to discuss proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework.

Cllr Cupit said: “The requisition and motion proposed for the meeting is essentially to discuss the district council’s response to the proposed national planning changes and what these could mean for North East Derbyshire.”

The five councillors believe the meeting is required urgently ahead of the next formally scheduled Full Council meeting, on September 23, because the NPPF consultation closes only a day after the next scheduled Full Council meeting which would not allow adequate time for a response.

Council Vice Chairperson, Cllr Christine Smith, has agreed to the meeting which is expected to be held on Thursday, September 12, when it will consider the five Conservative councillors’ motion that the council highlights in a consultation concerns and ‘strong opposition’ to the proposed Labour Government’s planning changes.

The motion highlights that the proposed changes include giving Government the power to set housing delivery numbers for each local authority which could mean a mandatory annual housing delivery of 622 new homes each year for North East Derbyshire – a 178per cent increase from the advisory method – while removing an uplift for cities and urban centres.

Proposed changes of concern include removing protections on the Green Belt through the new ‘Grey Belt’ definition allowing development in lower quality Green Belt areas with other overriding elements while placing an emphasis on meeting unmet development needs of neighbouring areas.

They also include, according to the motion, removing the opportunity for communities to comment on individual planning applications by removing the ability to challenge a planning application once it is in the council’s Local Plan, and with decisions upon whole new towns to be overseen by an unspecified panel.

Both the council’s Conservative Group Leader and Deputy Leader and the three fellow councillors from the authority’s 17 Conservative councillors have declared they want to see the council urge the Government to reconsider proposals and the impact they would have on areas like North East Derbyshire.

The Labour Government has stated it plans to build over 300,000 new homes annually over the next five years to meet a one-and-half million target to address the housing shortage crisis by fast-tracking developments and by prioritising local buyers for local developments.

It is also planning to prioritise building on used brownfield land to reduce environmental impacts and to introduce a new ‘Grey Belt’ land definition for low-quality Green Belt areas – which would otherwise be protected – to encourage and create more developments on this land.