Our community wants rapid housebuilding to slow down, to give local services like our Hospital and GPs time to catch up with the increase in demand, and to help meet the Council’s Climate Emergency declaration. The Local Plan Update should cut new house building levels in half, so we meet the needs of our own local residents, not act as a dormitory town to cover for under-delivery by other Local Authorities.
Basingstoke is an exception: we have consistently overbuilt in comparison to other communities in the South-East. There are provisions in law that the Borough Council can use to justify change, including establishing new policies on migration levels and using ‘exceptional circumstances’, as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
I have launched a petition that has already been signed by thousands of residents, the Borough Council must respect residents' views, take responsibility and use the new powers they have been given by the Government to halve house-building numbers.
It is really important we get as many signatures as possible to present to the Borough Council at the next full Council meeting, please do follow this page for updates.
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