It was interesting to read Wiltshire Council’s explanation of why housing developments on greenfield sites are not included in the local plan. The answer is apparently that the planning applications that have been passed through the year are ‘added’ to the local plan every April. This raises the question of how a plan is supposed to work. You would think by definition that a housing plan lays out what the council intends to do in the future. But not so where Wiltshire Council is concerned. Their working plan is actually a report on what private developers have done, updated yearly after the event. This is the report that apparently clairvoyant town councils backed as being a plan for the future of our area.
Developers who build housing in groups of 10 or less do not now have to include any social/affordable housing. The council by their own admission is not making any attempt to control the size of homes that are being built. They must be well aware that the size and price of homes being built are well beyond the reach of people in most need of a home, and more importantly, not what local people would prefer.
This ridiculous retrospective planning monitoring system yet again highlights how the council are not addressing the terrible plight of people in desperate need of an affordable home.
With May’s local elections on the horizon, the council is getting worried that rough sleepers might be seen by Wiltshire people. Although the council says that we do not have a problem with rough sleepers in the area, they have found it necessary to find the resources to employ two more staff. The role of these new employees is to seek out rough sleepers and get them off the streets. I hope I am not being too cynical if I suggest that the council may be more concerned about what people think of them rather than being concerned for the homeless.
If you want to decide whether the council would rather take the option of sweeping vital issues under the carpet rather than addressing them consider this. Ask one of the 16,000 people who were on the council’s housing list until two years ago, before the council changed the rules, and removed them. Does the council think that all these people have suddenly managed to save up enough to buy a home? Does the council worry that most of these people have no chance of saving for a home, while their private landlords are not restrained in any way from continually hiking up rents?
It is only a matter of time before the town and parish councils realise that the services Wiltshire Council has dropped and passed on to them, have not been given with an adequate budget. Soon the public outcry at how the quality of service has declined will start to ring in the ears of our town councillors. Wiltshire councillors without even a shrug, will have retreated to the safety of their ivory castle in Bythesea Road. Back to their routine of waiting for their leader Lady Jane to return from a hard day in the House of Lords. No doubt carrying yet more awards from a satisfied austerity government. A government who share Wiltshire Council’s contempt for the idea of building homes that people other than the rich can afford.
Tony Free
Longbridge Deverill
Warminster