Leeds Town Hall
By Mike Berriman
Planning approvals are in place to build 17,000 new homes in the city.
Recently proposals to change the national planning guidlelines means that the building of thousands of new houses could be fast-tracked.
Earlier this month the government outlined its ‘Fixing the Foundations’ package of national proposals which aims to encourage more new homes to be built at a faster rate. The changes proposed could allow developers to be given automatic planning permission to build on suitable disused industrial ‘brownfield’ sites, enhanced compulsory purchase powers to allow more brownfield land to be made available for development and the ability to fast-track housing projects.
Leeds City Council executive member for regeneration, transport and planning Councillor Richard Lewis said: “Planning is fundamentally important as it has a vital role in ensuring appropriate and high-quality housing and developments are built which will enhance the look of the city and stand the test of time
“There is a risk with the government’s proposals for ‘streamlining’ planning that you lose some of the detail that matters most to people.
“The key focus on our site allocations plan for future housing is to build on brownfield first and also to provide affordable housing for families and young people. It has taken a long time to get to our current position and we are concerned by the proposal that government will be able to intervene in local housing plans, potentially undermining decisions taken at the local level.”