6 hours Ago By [email protected] (Daniel Hodgson)
Middlesbrough Council’s housing targets have been lowered, but still remain more than double what they were under the previous government. Previously, Middlesbrough had an annual target of 251 new houses. Following the election, this increased to 589.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was in Sunderland on December 12 and defended Labour ’s plan to build 1.5 million new homes, as Middlesbrough’s target was reduced to 522, a move that has been welcomed by Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke. Councillors were told of the 589 target at an October planning meeting .
Middlesbrough’s Head of planning, Paul Clarke, explained what the Labour government’s decision meant for the local area. He said the council had expected an increase in housing targets from 250 to around 400, similar to the number in the local plan, but “we were wrong, and we could never have been so wrong, our advised figure, under [the new] methodology was 589 dwellings per year and that is an increase of about 135%”. This target has now been reduced by 67 houses per year, although this is still more than double the target set by the previous Conservative government and sits above the current proposals in the local plan.
The draft local plan for Middlesbrough explains that a “minimum housing requirement of 400 net additional dwellings per annum is proposed for Middlesbrough between 2022 and 2041. This has been informed by a Local Housing Needs Assessment.” At the planning meeting, Mr Clarke did balance the increased housing requirement by explaining that “we have been delivering about 563 on average over the last five years, so it’s not out of the reach of what we are capable of delivering.
” The context here is that these new targets need to be delivered consistently over a 15-20 year period. Middlesbrough is the most densely populated council area in the whole of the North East, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Out of the five unitary authorities across the Tees Valley, Middlesbrough has the second highest population, behind Stockton , yet at the same time, Middlesbrough has the smallest geographical area.
At the October planning meeting, Labour Councillor David Branson raised concerns regarding the geographical size of the council. He said: “Some hard decisions have to be taken about whether some [ North Yorkshire ] area is transferred into Middlesbrough. You only need to look on the map to see the problem we’ve got.
You’re going to have high intensive housing development in Middlesbrough and then it all stops! And that doesn’t help anybody.” Speaking in November, before the updated figures were released by the government, Mayor Cooke said: “The local plan, if it makes it through in time, will lock our housing target in at the current level, not the new level, which is trying to be imposed on us. I don’t think we can fundamentally achieve the new level, I just don’t think we can, I don’t think it’s realistic for us.
There needs to be a recognition of that, I’m quite comfortable with the level we are trying to set in the local plan. But equally, by the end of the local plan, that’s it, it’s done. “Unless we start building up, there isn’t really anywhere to go and most builders, now following Grenfell, don’t want to build up, in the same way that they would have previously, especially any sort of registered social landlord, they’re not going to take that risk.
” Following the release of the newer, lower figures, Mayor Cooke added: “I welcome the new lower revised figure, we are still in the process of setting the local plan which is likely to go for a decision in the new year but some recalculation is being done on the new information we have received.” Teesside Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community. Through the app, we'll send you the latest breaking news, top stories, exclusives and much more straight to your phone.
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