Leader writes to Deputy PM over “unachievable” housing targets

Councillor Patrick Harley put pen to paper with “serious concerns” after the new government announced plans to build 370,000 new homes per year.

The target figure for Dudley borough is to deliver 1,594 homes per year.

But in the letter, the council leader states even in its best years the borough has only hit half that.

He warned the council could not deliver the new target “even if we allocated all green belt land, greenfield and brownfield sites”.

Councillor Harley concluded the letter by urging the Deputy PM to consider his thoughts, along with the council’s forthcoming response in the consultation over the proposed changes to the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF).

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said:

“While I understand and fully support the need to build more homes, I have serious concerns about the numbers being put forward by the new government.

“There is simply not the land supply available. Even if we allocated all available green belt, greenfield and brownfield land we would not get anywhere near it.

“It is overambitious, unachievable, and would lead to the loss of great swathes of green land valued by so many in our borough.

“We are also advancing well with our own Dudley Local Plan, to the point where we hope to submit it for examination next year. I feel the changes being proposed would cause severe delays to the implementation of that plan, and put us back at square one again.

“For all of those reasons, I felt compelled to write to the government outlining my serious concerns, and to ask them to look at the numbers again.”