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Reigate Liberal DemocratsCovering the Parliamentary Constituency of Reigate |
Council accepts Borough Local Plan including Horley Master Plan
February 17, 2005 11:26 PM
By Cllr. Steve Kulka in Full Council Meeting in Reigate & Banstead Town Hall
By Cllr. Steve Kulka in Full Council Meeting in Reigate & Banstead Town Hall
I'd just like to say a few words on this, because as always, it is very important that we, as elected representatives of this Borough, we should make the best decision for the Borough.
The intention to build houses around Horley on what has been green fields for centuries, has been on the plans since at least 1971.
Over thirty years ago it was defined in the Regional Plan produced by Ted Heath's Conservative government and has been discussed and documented several times since.
Some years later, in 1980, the land around Horley was deliberately excluded from becoming designated as Green Belt, specifically to allow for future housing growth, by the Conservative controlled Surrey County Council.
In 1989 when Surrey adopted their Structure plan, they retained the rights for a large scale housing development on the fields around Horley.
In 1994, when our own Tory Borough Council adopted the last Local Plan, they stated in the report that in excess of 3000 houses could be built around Horley.
That same year saw Surrey County Council confirm that allocation into their updated Structure plan. That was ten years ago.
Then as recently as last year, Surrey's Structure Plan was adopted with a Horley allocation of 2644 new houses.
It's also fair to point out that the current Labour government have shown no more sympathy than the Tory administrations that have got us to where we are now.
Today, in 2005 we are being asked to approve the Final Revision of the Local Plan, for the whole Borough of Reigate and Banstead.
This is it.
We cannot change it any more.
We can only either accept it or reject it.
It may not be perfect and it's very late.
The Audit Commission have criticised this Council for having a plan that is so out of date. As was pointed out at the recent Executive meeting, we have suffered huge financial penalties for being late, that will be paid for by our residents through the Council Tax.
One thing is for sure. Whether we accept or reject this Local Plan, the houses will be built anyway.
If we reject the Borough Local Plan as it stands, we would leave ourselves open to abuse by developers, who's sole motive is to sell houses. It's what they are in business to do. Profits generally come before the welfare of the existing residents.
Also, we would have no planning control and no ability to influence ongoing development.
If we accept the plan, the houses will still be built,
but with greater local control,
and financial contributions from developers to improve the general environment around Horley.
Liberal Democrats understand that some Horley residents have legitimate concerns.
Doubts over the robustness of the flooding reports.
Whether the planned transport infrastructure is viable.
Whether new schools will ever be built, but we cannot realistically do anything about those, if we reject the plan.
Liberal Democrats believe that we shouldn't be building on green field sites,
but the Labour government have told us we must allow over 2000 houses to be built there,
Conservative Surrey County Council have paved the way,
and after years of faffing about by this Tory Borough Council Executive,
they have given us no choice, other than to accept it.
As I have explained, the only alternative is even worse.
In fact, in the light of all the information that we have been given,
I would be concerned about the motives of any Councillor who votes against this recommendation.
We cannot afford another Langshott.
Cllr. Steve Kulka
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