|
Stefan Kosciuszko’s letter, (EADT April 14) following Babergh ’s Strategy Committee consideration of how new housing and employment opportunities will be allocated across the district in the longer-term, is very selective in the distribution of honours and criticisms. It also fails to grasp the democratic process we and all district councils have to adopt regarding these issues.
The debate was only a part of the process of adopting the Local Development Framework which has to be in place to supercede the Local Plan adopted in 2006.
Without it Babergh will have no planning guidelines and development could in theory take place anywhere. Such anarchy cannot be in anyone’s interests! I do hope that scenario is not one Mr Kosciuszko favours - for all our sakes.
A very full document was tabled which would have gone on to Council ten days later and then out to public consultation over the next month. Of course there will be fierce debate about where the extra housing that is much needed in Babergh over the next 20 years will occur. However a major portion can only reasonably occur where there is already a sustainable neighbourhood.
Inevitably that points towards the Sudbury/Cornard and Hadleigh areas. Substantial villages are also in line to have more housing allocated to them. Additionally and not in the Babergh specific total, those near Ipswich are likely to have to accommodate a substantial portion of housing from the Ipswich policy area.
A number of councilors on the Strategy Committee wanted additional information included and as there would have been insufficient time to do this before the Council papers went out two working days later, I as Chairman proposed that it be deferred to the next Strategy meeting in May and it was unanimously agreed by the whole Committee.
For reasons best known to himself, Mr Kosciuszko presently is trying to jump the gun. He will be entitled, like all other members of the public, to make his points when the document has been approved by Babergh’s full Council for consultation.
He does himself no favours by suggesting that the forthcoming consultation is a sham. There will be genuine consultation on this and subsequent versions of the Local Development Framework before its likely adoption in late 2011. However, in order for the consultation to have any relevance to local people, it does need to incorporate some basic assumptions as to possible housing allocations.
|