Concerns have been raised over whether the area has enough services to cope
More than 27,000 more homes could be built across the Huntingdonshire district as the area faces an ‘unavoidable reality’. Huntingdonshire District Council has approved the latest version of its local plan which highlights where more than 27,000 new homes could be built.
The plan will apply until 2046 and was debated on Wednesday evening (September 9). Concerns were raised by residents and parish councillors that the number of new homes planned would essentially create a “new town” without the infrastructure. Under the local plan, more than 27,000 homes could be built in areas including Huntingdon and St Ives.
Cllr David Keane said he had grown up in an estate built in the 1960s which had schools, doctors and dentists planned alongside it. The Conservative councillor said: “When I used to talk to older St Ives residents, they remember when all where I was living was fields.
“Later I experienced a bit of that myself – the fields I knew disappeared and the landscape changed again. Most of us don’t particularly like change, unless we’ve chosen it, but there’s one unavoidable reality – we do need homes.”
He questioned whether this local plan was the right way to build new homes with infrastructure already strained. He said: “We cannot keep saying that the developer’s pound can be spent here, here and here – it can only be spent once to make this all work”.
The plan would aim for 32,200 homes spread over 25 years, of which 4,400 are already built and 11,300 more have been given permission. Cllr Brett Mickelburgh told the council that 18 months ago, the government recognised Huntingdonshire as a “high growth area” and raised their housing target by 50 per cent. The Liberal Democrat councillor said this placed the council in “tilted balance” – where a housing shortfall weighs planning decisions in favour of developers.
This means if the council rules against an application, it is more likely to be overruled by a planning inspector who could also order them to pay the developer’s appeal costs. He warned that this could lead to “speculative sites in the wrong places” and urged the council to support the local plan.
Cllr Peter Gammons called the number of houses “outrageous” as it would be a 33 per cent increase compared to a national average of between 22 and 25 per cent.The Reform councillor said: “It would be a betrayal of the residents who voted for us and are already angry at the disappearing of their communities.”
Cllr Keane said they need confidence not just that infrastructure has been considered but that it can be “realistically delivered” along with the homes.
Cllr Alex Bulat said that after some of the “basket-case situations” on the council over the last few months it was “really difficult to find the good will to support the administration on any particular item”. The Labour councillor said: “I understand why residents are opposed to having a lot more new houses and I cannot blame anyone who is rightly questioning this plan.
“Especially when they do not see the improvements to infrastructure and local services matching the level of development we have had in our area. However, it is also true that we haven’t been building enough for decades.”
Cllr Lara Davenport-Ray said she believed the target set by the government was “absurdly inflated” but without a local plan the market would decide where homes are built. The Green councillor said the plan was their only safeguard to defend their area “from hostile national planning targets”.
Cllr Sarah Conboy, leader of the council, said that voting to support the plan was “not an easy decision” but they were unable to guarantee infrastructure in it. The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “We will need to work with government to secure the things that we need government to deliver that we cannot enshrine in a local plan.
“If we could guarantee all of the infrastructure first we would do that, but we can’t. What we will commit to alongside this, though, is lobbying at every opportunity and making the case for Huntingdonshire and what it needs as it continues to grow – now, and for the residents of the future, and that’s something we can promise.”
Cllr Mickelburgh said he was “really worried” about hearing a “chicken and egg argument” around infrastructure. He said: “Nobody is going to build a ten million pound water treatment plant upgrade if they don’t know the demand is coming. You won’t find anyone investing in infrastructure unless they know the demand is coming and the local plan is how they know the demand is coming.”
The council voted in favour of the pre-submission with 25 votes for, 17 against and five abstentions.
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