Council backs Lib Dem Motion to help prevent unsuitable local property developments

by southgloslibdems on 12 December, 2014

South Gloucestershire Council has backed a motion, proposed by Lib Dems Pat Hockey and Alan Lawrance, calling upon the Government to reconsider recent changes to planning rules that make it easier for developments to go ahead without local residents having a say.  

Councillor Pat Hockey (Frampton Cotterell) said “I’m extremely pleased that we were able to gain cross-party support for this motion. In many cases converting shops and agricultural buildings is a good thing, as it helps to meet local housing demand. However, such developments can unwittingly change the nature of an area. Without local safeguards unsuitable developments could soon become a real problem. We believe local people deserve the chance to have a say on proposed developments in their area.”

Councillor Alan Lawrance (Dodington) said: “This motion is a call to restore common sense and localism to the planning system. South Gloucestershire is one of a number of Councils that have now called on the Government to rethink recent relaxations of the planning rules. I hope they will now do so.”

The motion was passed by Council on Wednesday night, after the addition of a Labour amendment calling for greater controls on HMO conversions.

Text of the motion as passed:

This Council acknowledges the importance of increasing local housing stock to meet growing need – but believes that measures to achieve this must be balanced against the right of local people to challenge inappropriate developments.

Therefore, Council calls upon the Coalition Government to review recent changes to planning regulations that have allowed for easier development at the expense of localism.

Specifically, Council calls upon the Government to review:

  1. The recent relaxing of Use Class rules, which now allow for a much wider range of changes of use without planning permission – including the conversion of shops into flats.
  2.  The recent changes to permitted development rights, which allow for large single story house extensions, and the conversion of agricultural buildings into residential or commercial properties, without full planning permission.
  3. The recent changes to permitted development rights that allow family homes to be used as Houses in Multiple Occupation without the need for planning permission, thereby causing uncontrolled change to the demography of an area and serious changes to the local community. This is only able to be changed by the use of an Article 4 direction, by which time the problem has to have already totally changed a community.

Council is concerned about what these changes might mean for our towns and villages, and calls upon the Government to assess have achieved the right balance between the needs of the existing communities on the one hand, and the need to increase housing stock on the other.

 

 

 

 

 

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