Councillors have reacted with fury to new Government housing targets, published yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner.
Instead of aiming for 728 houses a year, as currently agreed, Wirral will, under the new target, have to build 1,755 houses a year.
The new housing target announced yesterday, which will also be ‘mandatory’, would mean 35,100 houses built over the course of a 20 year Local Plan. At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister has written to all local councils.
This is 21,000 more than is currently proposed in the current plan and only possible if Green Belt is released for mass housing development.
Sites around Saughall Massie have already been identified by housebuilders for 1,000 houses - but the sites they wanted were listed for protection in the Local Plan by local Councillors.
Until yesterday, Wirral Council was working to deliver new homes entirely on previously developed sites, known as ‘brownfield’.
Councillor Jeff Green slammed yesterday’s announcement: “During the election campaign, less than a month ago, Labour sought to reassure everyone that only ‘unattractive’ Green Belt would be used for housing, what they termed ‘grey belt’. They also said more decisions would be taken locally.
“This new target would see swathes of Wirral’s Green Belt concreted over, communities changed beyond recognition and enormous new pressure on our roads, schools and health services.
"And, because the target will now be mandatory, it means councils such as Wirral will have no say on it whatsoever. Instead, we will be expected to approve almost any application to build on our Green Belt.
“In Monday’s debate, Labour Councillors were clearly unaware of what their own Party was going to announce the next day. The debate we had then, and the all-party agreement we reached, has now been ripped to shreds by their Government.”
Green Belt around the Borough, including Saughall Massie, is now at risk of development.
Conservative Councillors are now calling for an Extraordinary Council Meeting, to enable the Council to respond to the Government’s proposed new housing formula and targets by the deadline of 24 September.
Councillor Green added: “Currently there are 5,691 people on the Borough’s waiting list for housing. The proposal for 35,000 houses over the next 20 years exceeds all current projections for our population.
“I am also at a loss to understand why Liverpool’s housing target, under the Government’s new proposals, reduces while surrounding councils, such as ours, are hit hard.
“The Government’s proposals are a massive kick in the teeth to everyone in Wirral who has worked so hard since 2019 to come up with a Local Plan that meets our housing needs while protecting our local environment.”
“This is not the change people were expecting.”
