I was disappointed to read Cllr McIntyre’s letter in the Gazette last week (April 18). His attempt to re-write history and absolve himself and colleagues of their past actions was regrettable. May I remind him that the Conservatives ran the council for 17 years.

I have reviewed the April 2024 InTouch newsletter, produced by the local Conservative party, and Cllr McIntyre’s letter. These seem to be reflecting a bout of amnesia as the Government’s role in the overdevelopment of housing in the borough and the lack of infrastructure to service has occurred under their watch. This is illustrated by the following facts. The NPPF Standard Method of Calculation, which has generated the town’s past and present housing requirement, was endorsed by Conservative Government. The mishandling of the Manydown housing development occurred, which compromised the delivery of a five-year housing plan. The loss of a five-year housing plan resulted in the council’s losing control of local planning, thereby handing the initiative to speculative developers.

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The Conservative council leader announced a vision in December 2021 for Basingstoke to become “The Capital of the South” and advised that “there are currently too many barriers in the way of housing delivery”. The Conservative Government have not recently scrapped top-down housing requirements, as claimed in the newsletter and Cllr McIntyre’s letter. These statements are very misleading. This has been confirmed by specialist planning KCs recently, when reviewing the latest NPPF document at the current council leaders request.

In the April 2024 “InTouch” newsletter, the Conservative party are now criticising the new Independent / Lib Dem administration for actually reducing the housing numbers in the first five years of the new Local Plan, below the level required by the latest NPPF Standard Method calculation, currently endorsed by the Government. The stepped housing delivery approach adopted by the new administration is based on the best Legal Planning advice from specialist KCs. The advice given is that this is the only route available to reducing housing numbers, without the council risking future loss of control of local planning matters. It is a reasoned and pragmatic solution to a housing mess created under the previous Conservative administrations and allows time for the infrastructure serving the town to catch up on the under delivery of infrastructure, which has been neglected over so many years.

I do not believe that local elections should be treated as a party-political game, when the future of our lovely borough is at stake. I am encouraged that the current council leader and Cllr Konieczko, cabinet member for planning, have visited over 30 parish and town councils in our borough to listen and engage in serious conversation. We need honest and serious conversations, and I hope that councillors will reflect on how they take part in this debate.

L J Smith

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