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An Englishman’s home is his castle

20th February 2017

The old adage of ‘always build off firm foundations’ still rings true, but the shifting sands that are now common place in the planning arena certainly keeps everyone on their toes, and serves to make our task much more interesting!

Shropshire Council’s ‘Call for Sites’ has understandably generated a lot of interest and all our offices are helping clients to promote land during this window of opportunity. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 20 March 2017, so if you have land on the edge of settlements that you would like advice and assistance on promoting under the ‘Call for Sites’ please contact your nearest Roger Parry & Partners Office.

The Government’s housing white paper published on 7 February 2017 focused on the decades of under delivery of house building in the country, and how this has led to a ‘broken market’!

Government Minister Sajid Javid said, “The symptoms of this broken market are being felt by real people in every community. It’s one of the biggest barriers to social progress this country faces. But its root cause is simple. For far too long, we have not built enough houses.”

The emphasis is squarely being placed on local authorities providing enough land to build new houses on, and whilst Shropshire Council can now demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land, the timing of the ‘Call for Sites’ and its local plans review are obviously of particular relevance.

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said, “We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to fix the broken housing market problems and help them find a home of their own.”

Should there be any forthcoming planning legislation from the Government, on the back of the housing white paper that aims to fix the ‘broken market’, then the land being promoted under the ‘Call for Sites’ may prove to be not as long term as first envisaged.

The current review of Shropshire Council’s Local Plan will hopefully provide greater opportunities for planned and appropriate development in the county, especially in rural settlements, and discussions with senior officers on this subject last year gave me cause for optimism.

As always, we are happy to receive your call on any planning matter so please do call in, or phone one of our professional offices.
You can contact Paul Middleton by emailing: misterley@rogerparry.net or phoning: 01743 791336.