Borough Council set to scrap housing plans after Government inspector states they are not fit for purpose

Erewash Borough Council headquarters in Long Eaton. Photo by Eddie Bisknell.

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporting Service

A Derbyshire council is set to scrap its future plans for thousands of homes after a Government planning inspector said it would be effectively not fit for purpose.

Erewash Borough Council has been working on a blueprint – called the Core Strategy – laying out plans which earmarked sites for thousands of homes and acres of employment space up until 2040.

It was submitted for inspection by the Government more than three years ago but has been the subject of frequent changes and criticism.

The former Conservative-run council had submitted the plan and when Labour took control in 2023 it sought to scrap it, but this was blocked by the then Conservative Government in Westminster.

In the years since the plan has been at inspection, a site for 259 houses in the Green Belt between Spondon and Spondon Wood have been prospectively earmarked, seen plans submitted by a developer and approved in February last year.

Since then, the Labour Government has increased annual housing targets for the borough significantly, rising from 376 to 523, leading to significant changes to the under-inspection blueprint to find space for 820 further homes at the 11th hour – to a total of 7,044 homes.

To do this, it allocated further sites in the protected Green Belt and distributed these around new sites in Sandiacre, Breadsall Hilltop, Borrowash, Breaston, Draycott and West Hallam.

The Labour-run council received significant criticism for these allocations which were viewed as punitive measures against Conservative-leaning wards.

Labour argued more distribution was needed around the borough, to take focus off Ilkeston and Long Eaton, and said these urban areas had been exhausted.

In November, Kelly Ford, the inspector overseeing the blueprint, said the council had two choices, withdraw the plan or proceed to a decision at which point she would recommend to the Secretary of State that the document is “unsound” due to “significant shortcomings”.

She said the Green Belt land assessment does not have enough clarity or evidence to support removal or inclusion of new sites, that the overall plan is only 96 homes above the minimum – leaving it at risk of not hitting the target, and that policies and evidence within it are rapidly becoming dated due to the time taken to “adopt” it.

The Labour-run council had issued a rebuttal, asking 21 questions of clarity, to which Ms Ford has said the letter only appeared to serve to “simply challenge my findings through a series of selective questions” and risked further delay and without other interested parties being part of the discussion.

As such, Steve Birkinshaw, the council’s head of planning, has now written to say: “I shall seek authority to withdraw the plan at the next meeting of council, which is January 22nd.”

Councillor Wayne Major, Conservative opposition leader, said: “We are pleased to see this ill-thought-out Core Strategy finally withdrawn. It should have been scrapped months ago, when the planning inspector ruled the plan unsound echoing concerns raised by countless residents over the past year. 

“Alongside residents, we consistently argued that the strategy lacked the evidence needed to justify the proposed Green Belt allocations. Many of the sites were clearly unsuitable. 

“The inspector’s conclusion was therefore welcome, and I’m sure it has come as a relief to affected residents that the Labour-run borough council has finally accepted this and stopped pursuing an unsound plan. 

“However, serious concerns remain as local government reorganisation approaches, particularly over future housing priorities if Erewash is absorbed into a Derby city authority.”

Cllr Curtis Howard, Labour’s lead member for planning and regeneration, said: “In her letter last month, the planning inspector made clear what we have been saying for years: the housing plan we inherited from the Conservatives was fundamentally flawed. 

“We previously attempted to withdraw the Core Strategy in November 2023, and we were blocked from doing so by Tory government ministers playing politics. 

“As a result, two years and hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money have been wasted.

“It has always been our goal to deliver good quality homes for local people and their families.

“Around 5,000 people are on the social housing waiting list in Erewash, 2,000 of which are children. We have a moral duty to those people, and everyone who has struggled with unaffordable housing costs and extortionate rents. 

“Erewash has never once met its housing targets, and they have risen considerably since this plan was originally put together. 

“In line with the independent planning inspectorate and government’s recommendations, we will now seek to withdraw the Core Strategy as soon as possible.

“A new plan will allow us to make use of the much-needed changes brought by the new Planning & Infrastructure Act and updates to the National Planning Policy Framework. “Changes made only in recent months to the local plan process will considerably help Erewash where we have struggled in the past. 

“We will proceed with a new plan in short order, consult local people and relevant stakeholders accordingly, and proceed in the spirit of fairness and transparency.”