Tories and Greens band together to oppose up to 5,000 homes around Wetherby
North Yorkshire has seen significantly increased housing targets, as part of the Labour Government’s bid to build 1.5m new homes by 2030.
The Conservatives and the Green Party have banded together to try and stop up to 5,000 homes being built around Wetherby, amid fears of the town’s “urban expansion”.
Some 200 people attended a community meeting, alongside councillors from both parties, to discuss apparent development pressure on the town.
The planning situation in Wetherby is complicated by the fact that it sits on the border of West and North Yorkshire.
Changes to government planning policy have delayed North Yorkshire’s local plan, with communities raising fears of “speculative development” in the meantime.
North Yorkshire has seen significantly increased housing targets, as part of the Labour Government’s bid to build 1.5m new homes by 2030.
Campaigners, Better Wetherby, say that the town’s housing need assessment has been met until 2042, according to Leeds City Council.
Leeds Conservative group leader Coun Alan Lamb has estimated that some 5,000 homes could be built through a patchwork of smaller developments, which he described as “Wetherby urban expansion”.
Fellow Tory Wetherby mayor Connor Mulhall said this could see an additional 40,000 car journeys per day.
Green Coun Penny Stables commented: “How can the Government keep pushing out these targets?
“We are in a situation where Westminster is imposing huge housing targets, while at the same time there are already large numbers of approved developments being held as land banks by developers seeking to maximise profit.
“It was a really positive meeting convened by Better Wetherby, and encouraging to see different political parties working together on such an important issue for our area. Greens, Conservatives and Labour are all in agreement on this.
“We now need the support of the Mayors of both the West and North Yorkshire Combined Authorities.”
“We are all calling for Government to work more closely with local communities to establish what is reasonable and feasible in an area, because too often decisions are made without understanding local circumstances.”
Recent research by the Fabian Society found that Yorkshire has some of the lowest quality private rented housing in England.