Lichfield District…a deluge of houses on the way?

The District of Lichfield is heading for a massive catastrophe with a possible 21,000 more houses being forced upon us!

Now listen carefully. This is a long post by me but it is about a subject which will affect everyone who lives in Lichfield District, which includes much of the rural areas close to Tamworth. This isn’t one of those things you can say ‘it will never happen’. Six month ago I would have said that but things are heading in the wrong direction.

Six months ago when John Prescott decided to use his scatter gun or one size fits all approach to more housing, few people really believed his position of wanting a further monumental increase in house building across most of the country would be taken seriously. Think on; it has been!

Now, the whole business of strategic housing for the country and therefore Staffordshire over the next fifteen years or so is very high level and complicated. So much so that it bypasses almost all the population! As of today a report is going to the Cabinet of Labour controlled Staffordshire County Council containing recommendations which are crucial and appalling for Lichfield District!

So how does it all work? Central Government (was Mr Prescott but he got the push and it’s now Ruth Kelly) are responsible for deciding how many new houses our country needs going forwards. They look at population movement, immigration, economic regeneration and many other issues. They then propose (this government’s propositions tend to end up as ‘you will do this’) to the West Midlands Regional Assembly (that’s the unelected extra tier of regional government that was slipped in under the radar without any consultation by John Prescott a few years ago) the number of houses they want to see built in the West Midlands region.

Next in line are the region’s County Councils, Birmingham City and Stoke City as strategic planning authorities. In Staffordshire, the County Council consults with all the local councils like Lichfield, Tamworth, Cannock and others (8 in all) before making a recommendation to the West Midlands Regional Assembly on how the number of houses should be distributed throughout the local council areas. The WMRA look at all the submissions from the strategic authorities and then make a decision (despite being an unelected body) on what recommendation will go forward to Central Government on behalf of the whole region. So that is the process. One last thing on this bit. Because it is Staffordshire County Council who are providing almost all the officials to compile the WMRA submission to Central Government, I believe that our strategic authority (Staffordshire CC) will have very very significant influence on what goes forwards to Central Government.

Now to the numbers. As it stands, there are three ‘options’ for the West Midlands region. The first is 381,000 new houses, the second is 491,200 and the third (the extra one which has been added) is 575,000.

Remember, the Government’s been found out on the way its consultations are carried out this week. After challenge in the High Court, the Government were told by the judge that their consultation on another national issue was totally inadequate. The response by Government…..’despite that, our policy remains unchanged’. So that sets the scene.

Everyone in the know says that the first option (381k) is simply a token entry. Most thought that option two (491k) was favourite; now, however, the unofficial noises coming from Central Government sources are that the 575,000 is what is needed and that will be their position.

I think we need to ignore option one because, quite frankly, it’s not going to be acceptable to Central Government. Option two is still possible but, as I say, the smart money has moved firmly to option three….the big one meaning 575k. Back to who does what. Based on that option Staffordshire County would be asked to accommodate 77,900 extra houses. You can find the detailed report here.

The County Council have decided that Lichfield District can cope with 16,000 new houses. A far greater increase in numbers than any other local council in Staffordshire under what is the likely total number for the region. But wait, it gets worse. The County also propose that Tamworth Borough can accomodate 5,000 extra houses despite the fact that Tamworth BC has pretty well run out of land. And the County know that!

So where will those 5000 extra houses that Tamworth BC cannot possibly find room for go? Under the planning rules almost all of them will be required by law to come to Lichfield District. Where will they go in Lichfield District? Well there isn’t anything like enough development land so next stop is building thousands of new houses on land which is currently Green Belt.

The 16,000 houses option would be horrendous, but in reality, 21,000 new houses in Lichfield District would be staggering. Currently there are around 32,000 houses in the entire District. I trust you will also be concerned if you live in Lichfield District or simply don’t want the country’s Green Belt to be destroyed by development. Where we live may be changed beyond recognition with a possible 70% increase to the number of houses!

What do you think?

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