'We must get right balance so everyone can benefit'

9:27am Thursday 10th July 2008

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BASINGSTOKE'S future is at stake. We have a distinct absence of leadership and of consensus.

The approach of local politicians is all important. We can choose to lead, not to be led by developers. We also need to listen to the community, who must be able to shape development and own the vision of the future.

For many years, Basingstoke has been the economic powerhouse of the South East, growing faster than anywhere else. That has brought many people great prosperity - but not everyone in Basingstoke has benefited.

It has brought pressure on our urban areas where development is being crammed into open spaces.

At the same time, we need more housing. People are being left without a home because we haven't built enough of the right homes in the right places.

I believe our planning process and the piecemeal approach to development fails us.

We need to understand that we can shape development and that things cannot simply be left to the market.

The advice that developers get from the planning and housing departments at the borough council only serves to contradict what we know is happening in our communities.

For example, we know conversions of houses into flats are changing the character of local communities, but nothing has yet been done to stop it.

We see many examples of bad design, of homes that are in developments that are just not conducive to a sense of community.

When a developer buys a site, when the council allocates land, we need to know that there is a purpose and need to be fulfilled.

Developers must fulfil a social responsibility to make good places to live. This is something the market cannot provide, because we can see around us how the market, left to its own devices, has failed us.

There are 400 vacant flats in the town centre. There are now more than 800 empty homes. Nearly 3,000 flats are planned by the council and developers over the next three years. This is compounding our problem.

We need to learn the lessons of the past and move forward. We can't afford to have rural areas protecting themselves by dumping on the town, nor can the town simply grow out of all proportion, adversely affecting the rural areas.

We need balance and that has to be right for business, and for people who want to live in the town they were born in or have come to and not be forced to move away. It has to work so that when we grow, people aren't forced to constantly fight development.

For example, we need to recognise the importance of Basingstoke College of Technology to the community - and BCOT's desperate need for a site demonstrates the failure of leadership.

BCOT chiefs put in a bid for Gresley Road and the borough council turned them down. BCOT has been pushed around the town, site by site, until now it is stuck with a developer who, I feel, is using it to get what he wants, not what the community or BCOT needs.

I believe we can have a proactive approach to the development of our town - to set the standard of homes we can be proud of and have businesses of all sizes that are able to flourish and keep us prosperous.

We can protect our green spaces and achieve the right balance between rural and urban. We can achieve growth and prosperity fulfilled in a socially responsible way that retains the essence of Basingstoke and Deane.

-Councillor Paul Harvey