The Government have released the revised BRES job numbers for 2013 and these show that the jobs growth rate we have achieved since the recession ended in 2009 is still much lower than the jobs growth rate assumed in the SHMA for the period 2011-2031, during which period it is inevitable we will experience at least one more recession. This comes at a time when the UK is creating more jobs than the rest of the EU put together, so can hardly be described as a normal set of circumstances.
The flawed jobs growth rate in the SHMA adds 5,100 extra houses to to the overall housing allocation to the combined Housing Market Area of Hart, Surrey Heath and Rushmoor. The impact of this is that it pushes up Hart’s own allocation and forces Surrey Heath and Rushmoor to ask Hart to become a sink for 3,000 extra houses for them. Furthermore, these jobs forecasts lead to over-estimates of the amount of employment land we need and so constrains the amount of land that might be made available for housing.
If these errors in the SHMA growth rate were corrected the threat from Surrey Heath and Rushmoor would evaporate and Hart’s own housing allocation for the Local Plan would come down from 7,534 to around 6,750, which would definitely mean the remaining requirement could be made from brownfield sites alone.
How long before the penny drops with Hart District Council and the other Hampshire boroughs that they need to revise the SHMA to a more realistic number?
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I do hope Hart District Council planners pay attention to these figures
Sadly they aren’t showing much sign of doing so.
Hmmmmmmm!
There wouldn’t be enough profit in building a council estate in Winchfield, so no developer would build it. The best place for affordable housing, is as per Ranil’s suggestion that the vacant office blocks are demolished and replaced by decent flats for those seeking to rent or get a foot on the housing ladder.
While listening to Dave yesterday talking about affordable housing it suddenly occurred to me that the good people of Winchfield could end up living in the midst of something akin to a council housing estate. I’m sorry if this sounds like a wind-up but . . . . .