Thanet Green Party is calling for a halt to the granting of planning permission for developments of more than 10 homes.
Cllr Mike Garner will put forward the motion at a full council meeting next week saying the move will allow for a review into the impact the current housebuilding programme is having across Thanet.
Party members say recent increases in mortgage interest rates will have a slowdown effect on both the building and purchase of new homes, and they believe this is an opportunity to pause the granting of new planning permissions and carry out a review, with both councillors and officers being involved in the investigation.
Green councillors say residents have voiced concerns over housebuilding impact on the already failing Southern Water infrastructure; traffic and highways; health services and schools and properties that remain unoccupied rather than becoming primary residences.
The lack of ‘affordable’ homes being built and made available for residents who’ve spent years on the waiting list has also been raised.
Cllr Garner said: “We have seen, both through recent sewage releases and last year’s major water outages, that Southern Water’s infrastructure is not fit for purpose. During the election campaign we called for a halt to further major planning application approvals until the work to upgrade their infrastructure has been completed.
“A pause now would enable us to review not just the Southern Water issues, but also the serious impacts on our road network and health services, and to determine whether developments that have been completed have delivered the affordable housing that was promised.
“I’m sure Councillors from all parties have been contacted by residents about their concerns and I look forward to hearing from a number of them during the debate next week.”
A number of questions will be raised in the motion, such as how many previously approved planning applications are still to commence development and whether GP surgeries, primary schools and social amenities promised in previously approved planning applications been adequately delivered by the builders?
The suggestion is to set up a cross-party working group of seven councillors to work with officers to carry out the review, using the Treasury Green Book Gate Review process as a guide.
In January Thanet Greens called for a halt to all housing developments across the isle until significant improvements were made to Southern Water’s infrastructure.
The call followed a series of interruptions to water supply due to faults at the Rumfields water tower and sewer outfall incidents around the coast.
‘Misleading residents’
Thanet council leader Rick Everitt (Lab) says the council does not have the ability to pause major planning decisions.
He said: “The council has no ability to ‘pause’ the determination of major planning applications. What would happen if it tried is that the applications would end up being decided by the government’s planning inspectorate instead, on the same policy basis, and the council taxpayers of Thanet would no doubt have to pay the extra costs.
“In any event, it is unclear what could have changed after such a ‘pause’ since the adopted local plan would remain in place as the basis of decision-making, alongside national planning policy.
“The council’s current local plan review, which has itself to go through a very lengthy statutory process, cannot be usurped by a working group of the kind the Greens propose. There are existing routes for councillors to get answers to the questions they say they want to raise.
“It’s clear to members of all parties that there are strong views about the future development of Thanet within the community and that they must be given appropriate weight in future policy-making.
“However, this motion – which officers have already advised in the published report should not be debated next week – risks misleading residents about what the council can and cannot do in the meantime. Green councillors should know better.”
Planning rules
The move would possibly mean having to defer all decisions as refusal would have to be based on planning considerations, such as over development, and that would run the risk of costly planning appeals.
However, local planning authorities should usually make a decision on planning applications within eight weeks. If it takes longer, the applicant can appeal to the Secretary of State with responsibility for planning.
Local Plan
The following month the Party called for a halt to the Local Plan review – which is predicting need for an additional 4,000-4,500 homes by 2040 on top of the 17,140 already required.
They said say the Office of National Statistics data being used to calculate housing need is incorrect – something also stated by witnesses at the Shottendane development public enquiry, including North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale.
The Local Plan sets out the strategy for future development and was adopted for Thanet in July 2020. It runs to the period up to 2031.
The council has been preparing a ‘partial update’ of the Local Plan to extend it up to 2040. This is updating certain parts of the Plan and reviewing topics that previous Local Plan Inspectors recommended, it is not an update of the whole Plan.
Thanet council has just announced plans to ‘significantly’ speed up its affordable housing development with the aim of providing at least 400 social homes by 2027.
The proposal, and the Thanet Green Party motion, will be discussed by councillors at a meeting on July 13.
