Eastern assembly defies ODPM on growth area building target...

Regional planners in the East of England have put themselves on a collision course with the government over the delivery of the Communities Plan.

The East of England Regional Assembly’s regional planning panel has rejected an ODPM proposal that it add a further 18,000 homes to its building targets for the growth area between London, Stansted and Peterborough that was outlined in the plan.

The panel chose instead to recommend that its previous plan, that would see 478,000 homes be built between 2001 and 2021 in the region as a whole, go ahead. The majority of these homes would, however, be built in the growth area.

Roger Humber, chair of Anglia Housing Group and a member of the regional assembly, warned: “The government may not be pleased that the region is asking for a contribution to the cost of new social housing and infrastructure at the same time as it is rejecting the call for 18,000 more homes. It may decide to direct funding to other regions.”

But John Reynolds, chair of the regional planning panel, said that although the panel had rejected the 18,000 additional homes it had re-allocated home numbers between the region’s 48 housing authorities so that most of them would be built in the growth area.

Planners at the panel meeting last Friday decided to require that of the total 29,300 new homes each year, 7200 must be social housing – that’s 30% of the total. Another 720 key worker homes would also be built each year.

Nick Abbey, chairman of the National Housing Federation in the East of England, said: “We are keen to see this delivered as soon as possible. There are going to be sustainability issues about providing infrastructure and there will be forces of nimbyism but it is up to housing associations to argue the case that we will be providing homes for local people with local jobs.”

A spokesman for the ODPM said it would not comment on the East of England’s plans until they had made further progress.

The plans, which are to be considered for approval at a meeting of the assembly on 5 November, will be the subject of scrutiny by an inspector at an Examination In Public next year and ultimately must be approved by deputy prime minister John Prescott.