It would be remiss of a property column not to focus on the changes announced to the national planning policy. Labour has been bold in talking about housing targets since the election.
Last month, we saw this implemented as policy, and councils across the country will have to work hard to deliver it.
Of course, I am a little biased when it comes to development. However, I totally agree with many comments on the Gazette website about the importance of new and improved infrastructure with new homes.
Basingstoke has seen several huge housing sites spring up over recent years, and the biggest is still to come at Manydown.
These huge sites need new schools, doctors, dentists, community centres, etc. Sadly, these don’t follow as quickly behind the houses as they should. Why aren’t they built first?
In my opinion, the key to delivering (or trying to get close to) the target is in smaller schemes. Small sites do not put the same pressure on existing infrastructure, they do not sprawl out over large green fields and (typically) they blend in with the local areas.
Good-quality small sites in and around the settlement boundary are usually of higher quality and employ local people within local companies. Of course, it is important that these smaller schemes also contribute to the need for affordable housing.
Jackson Wright Property is a small local business. We are directly involved in promoting, planning, and selling 62 properties in the borough—over five per cent of the annual target of 1,127 homes!
The key to delivering these small, high-quality schemes is in the planning process. Developers are tied up in red tape and lengthy delays that you would associate with large housing sites, and this needs to change to allow sympathetic development to ‘chip away’ at the target.
As a local person, I know that I would rather see my 1,127 new homes spread across the town in a few hundred smaller schemes than picked up and put down in two enormous sites in the countryside without adequate public services and infrastructure improvements.
If you would like to speak to Jackson Wright Property about any of your land or property matters, then please visit jackson-wright.co.uk
This article was written by Andy Jackson – Jackson Wright Property