Basingstoke Local Plan collapses over water crisis

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council announced on Thursday, July 9, that it is unlikely to meet the government's December 2026 deadline to submit its Local Plan, meaning that unless ministers grant an extension the entire process will have to restart from scratch under new rules – leaving the borough exposed to speculative developers for at least three more years.

Cabinet member for strategic planning and infrastructure, Cllr Andy Konieczko, said the council had "reached a point where we can't realistically do any more without having a clear picture on future water supply."

The Liberal Democrat councillor for Brighton Hill revealed that South East Water has so far been unable to provide assurances that it can supply sufficient fresh water for the new homes the government is requiring Basingstoke and Deane to build, essential for "drinking, washing and flushing toilets."

Drone shot of Basingstoke from Eastrop Park (Image: Daniel Rook)

Earlier this year, the Gazette reported that water concerns had put plans for around 6,000 new homes in Basingstoke and Deane in jeopardy, after council‑commissioned analysis warned of a possible supply deficit in the area served by South East Water.

Cllr Konieczko blamed the crisis primarily on South East Water's failure to deliver a transfer pipeline from the Surrey Hills to the area on time, a project that was expected to bolster water resilience across the borough.

The council first raised the alarm at its March meeting this year, when a water cycle study and Regulation 18 public consultation - an early-stage statutory consultation on Local Plan options - revealed the scale of the problem.

Since then, a working group comprising the council, the Environment Agency, Natural England and neighbouring local authorities has been pressing South East Water for answers. Despite more than four months of negotiations, the water company has still not provided a definitive response.

Cllr Andy Konieczko – Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure (Image: BDBC)

The council's difficulties have been compounded by a separate regulatory blow, with the Environment Agency refusing South East Water's application to continue drawing water from one of the natural sources it has been using as an alternative to the delayed pipeline – a decision taken on environmental grounds.

South East Water is appealing that ruling, leaving the long-term picture for water supply in the borough even more uncertain.

Council leader Cllr Paul Harvey confirmed he has a meeting scheduled with South East Water's incoming chief executive John Halsall to discuss the situation directly.

Leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Cllr Paul Harvey (Image: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council)

But opposition councillors were scathing. Cllr Simon Minas-Bound, leader of the Conservative opposition, said: "This is a devastating admission by the council. After years of telling residents that a new Local Plan was just around the corner, we're now told it has to start again from scratch."

He warned the delay would leave the borough "more exposed to speculative planning applications, planning by appeal and uncertainty for communities, businesses and villages", and that residents would ultimately face higher house numbers with less ability to plan supporting infrastructure such as schools and GP surgeries.

"Leadership is about finding solutions, not simply identifying problems," he added. "The decisions made — or not made — today will affect generations to come."

Cllr Simon Minas-Bound

Council Leader Cllr Paul Harvey launched a fierce counter‑attack, accusing the Conservatives of ignoring infrastructure problems when they ran the borough. "It is clear that the Conservatives would have ploughed on, ignoring the very significant water issues in our borough, as they have for over a decade — we will not," he said.

"It's really rich for the Tories to be crying wolf now," Cllr Harvey added. "They would have continued building thousands of houses without infrastructure, without water, doctors, schools, just as they did for the last decade — we will not."

He said the current administration was focused on "our communities first, not silly party politics", arguing that "responsible people" should be seeking solutions, not point‑scoring. "Unlike the Tories who avoided the difficult questions for over a decade, we commissioned the evidence that asked the tough questions that residents needed asking and uncovered really critical issues that need solutions, not party political games," he said.

Cllr Harvey said the crisis underlined his administration’s “infrastructure‑first” approach to housebuilding. He argued that quality development should be planned around services that can “at first catch up with existing pressures and then keep pace with future growth”, rather than treating water, schools and GP surgeries as an afterthought.

The consequence for residents is an increased exposure to speculative development — where developers can submit planning applications for sites the council has not chosen, exploiting national rules that presume in favour of development when no up-to-date Local Plan exists.

With the new plan not expected to be in place until autumn 2029 at the earliest, that vulnerability could stretch for at least three more years.

Cllr Konieczko insisted the council should not be "penalised for the repeated failings of South East Water," saying: "It's not right that our borough should be exposed to speculative development because all of us here have done our jobs properly."

(Image: Daniel Rook)

The council has written to local MPs and formally requested a meeting with Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, to discuss protecting the borough from speculative development, and securing an extension to the December 2026 deadline.

If an extension were granted, the council could finish the existing plan — on which residents have already been consulted — rather than have to start again from scratch.

It has pointed to recent comments by Housing Secretary Steve Reed, who said publicly that "we cannot have a new home built if you turn on a tap and nothing comes out" and pledged the government would "absolutely make sure that all the infrastructure is in place to support new housebuilding".

A revised timetable for the Local Plan is expected to be presented at Cabinet in September.

South East Water was contacted for comment.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was contacted for comment.