"New housing targets are challenging but the right thing to do”

13 Dec 2024

The Cabinet members for Housing and Planning at West Suffolk Council have welcomed increased targets for new homes saying it will be a challenge but it's the right thing to do.

Cllr Richard O’Driscoll and Cllr Jim Thorndyke were speaking after the Government yesterday published is revised National Planning Policy Framework which changes the way local councils calculate the number of new homes that need to be built.

The changes mean the target for the number of new homes in West Suffolk will increase from around 800 a year to about 1200.

The new target comes just weeks after the council adopted a new Housing, Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy shaped through public engagement.

The council recently highlighted how it has more than 2600 households on its housing register for affordable housing including over 1000 households in urgent or high need.

It has also highlighted stories of real families who have been made homeless as a result of rising rents and a lack of affordable housing to meet demand. The council works to help households who become homeless through temporary accommodation into a new permanent home of their own and has seen an increase in the number of households facing homelessness.

Cllr O’Driscoll said: “We know through the public engagement that shaped our Housing, Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping strategy, that we need to increase the number of homes being built including “affordable housing” ensuring a better balance of supply against demand which currently pushes up the cost of the housing market.”

“There are challenges in how we deliver these. We need greater flexibility to deliver growth to benefit Brandon for instance which is currently restricted due to the presence of species including stone curlews. 

“There are other constraints, and we will be speaking to the Government to see how these may be managed in order to ensure we aren’t overburdening housing growth on other areas.

“We recognise where new homes are built, and the need to ensure that they are the right type in the right locations with supporting infrastructure, is a sensitive subject and we will be carrying out more public engagement next year. This will include communities as well as developers to explore what can be delivered alongside new housing to benefit our existing communities.

“And we also need to work to unlock tricky sites which have previously been developed, known as brownfield sites.”

Cllr Jim Thorndyke, Cabinet Member for Planning said: “I want to reassure our communities across West Suffolk that we will be working with them allocate land for these additional homes through the local plan process. 

“Our draft West Suffolk Local Plan has been before the planning inspector as part of it process of checks and balances and is on track to come back to the council to formally adopt next year. This puts us in a good position in terms of shaping where growth happens and preventing speculative development. We have already said that we will then begin an immediate review of the plan. This will allow us to engage and look at where and how we accommodate this additional housing growth in order to best benefit our communities and the future residents of West Suffolk.”

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