In the light of recent Government announcements on housebuilding, it’s hardly a surprise that the Romsey Advertiser’s front page – and Cllr Phil North’s column – both concerned this topic (August 2). 

There are, I think, three things which all politicians can agree on. UK population growth demands an increase in housebuilding. In particular, it must be made easier for the younger generation to have their own homes – whether bought or rented. 

Understandably, if you like the place you live in, significant housebuilding is usually unwelcome The first two points work against the third (and vice versa) and that means politicians have to make difficult choices. Such as the long-standing approval for the Whitenap development (the front page story). 

But not all choices are inevitable; which brings me to Cllr North’s piece. A headline of “Our countryside must be protected” and lines such as “new homes must be built in the right place … include high levels of local infrastructure” clearly demonstrate a direction of travel. Housebuilding will (yet again) be disproportionally focussed on Andover and Romsey, and one or two other urbanised places. 

Before the Government announcement, our Draft Local Plan meant an increase in housing across Test Valley of approximately one per cent per year for 16 years. If the rural parts of Test Valley (more than one third of the total area, according to the Government web site) are excluded from the new building targets then the result would be far higher than that in urban areas, where the infrastructure is already struggling to cope.

Cllr North and his Conservative colleagues will say this is not the case – and point to the neighbourhood plans that some villages are developing, or have developed. But most of these will inevitably fall short of covering their fair share of the new overall target. 

The Lib Dems have previously put forward a dispersal policy, whereby the amount of housebuilding is proportional – across every part of the borough – to the number of current dwellings in each place. That is the fair way to deal with this difficult problem. That is what we will continue to fight for. 

Cllr Neil Gwynne,
Leader of Lib Dem Group, 
Test Valley Borough Council

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