“Warrington may not need so many new houses” – councillor

WARRINGTON may be able to plan for significantly fewer new homes in the future, according to Liberal Democrat councillor Ryan Bate.

This would make a “massive difference” to protecting the borough’s green space and delivering the right infrastructure, he says.
Cllr Bate, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for environment and planning was commenting on government proposals to change the method of calculating the number of houses which councils must plan for.
He said: “It is right that the government will now insist on using the latest data, rather than numbers based on 2014. A rough and ready calculation suggests that Warrington would need to plan for around 14,250 houses, or 712 per year. This is a significant reduction compared to Warrington’s current plans and would make a massive difference to protecting our green spaces and ensuring we can deliver the right infrastructure.

“What isn’t clear is whether Warrington will need to adopt this new methodology. Nor is it clear whether Warrington will continue with their current Local Plan process given the drastic changes proposed by the government.
“We must have a Local Plan, but it must be one that offers sustainable development and carries public support. A lower, more manageable level of growth would achieve this and that is what I will continue to campaign for, both locally and nationally.”
Warrington’s draft Local Plan currently aims to deliver 18,900 new homes – with about 7,000 of them on Green Belt land.