Uttlesford District Council votes to start new Local Plan after serial failures by previous administration

Councillors at R4U led Uttlesford District Council have voted to start a new Local Plan ‘from scratch’ after Inspectors found the past two plans submitted by the previous administration to be unsound. The councillors’ decision was guided by an independent review into the best way forward that was commissioned by UDC through the Local Government Association.

After the council vote R4U’s Cllr John Evans, Planning portfolio holder at UDC, said “The results of the independent expert review UDC commissioned through the Local Government Association were quite clear. It said that the best option for our district was to start a new Local Plan from scratch. Councillors from all parties have voted to do just that. Our new administration will not make the mistakes of the last one. They wasted £6m of local taxpayers’ money and left residents open to a decade long developer-free-for-all. We must and will act quickly to put an end to it. Creating a new plan is a complex process that will take at least 3 years because this council will listen to and consult extensively with local residents.”

At the Uttlesford District Council meeting the vast majority of councillors voted to start a new Local Plan, including all the R4U, Independent and Green councillors along with half of the Conservatives and nearly a third of the Liberal Democrats.

R4U’s Cllr John Lodge, Leader at UDC added “We’ve brought a new brush to the council to sweep away the mistakes of the past. Under our Residents Administration the new Local Plan will: use evidence to decide the best places for new homes; prioritise the delivery of required infrastructure first; provide effective local control by residents; and tackle housing affordability. Council officers have already started and are working hard. They will be reaching out to town and parish councils to start the engagement on the new plan – our administration understands and values cooperation and very much wants to work with them. In short, this council will be a strategic community-maker with and for our district and its residents.”

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