UDC leadership waste 3 months on Local Plan because of refusal to acknowledge defects

R4U believes that UDC should have delayed their Local Plan 3 months ago when it was first obvious that it was flawed; and that significant amendments should be adopted to make the plan sound.

John Lodge (R4U)John Lodge (R4U)

R4U chair Cllr John Lodge, who sits on UDC’s Local Plan working group, said “The UDC leadership has just announced that they are delaying their Local Plan again. They should have taken this decision 3 months ago as soon as the Braintree Plan was rejected. The two plans are conjoined around a new settlement West of Braintree. Once the Inspector found that unsound, UDC could no longer prove it was able to deliver the houses it needed to pass the test. Instead, to cover up the mess, they pretended all was OK. Now it has been exposed.”

“But UDC’s Plan has further problems as it has other similar fatal flaws as the Braintree Plan. These include missing infrastructure planning, evidence to show the best locations for homes have been selected, and a lacking financial model.”

“Three months ago R4U recommended that UDC pause to fix their plan; instead they steamed on and how they’ve wasted another £250,000 of council tax-payer money. Worse than that, they have left our communities vulnerable to predatory and unsustainable piecemeal development for another 3 months.”

“With our planning experts, R4U has produced a strong set of proposals to get the Local Plan back on track. Instead of the current flawed plan that lets big developers’ asset-strip our communities, our proposals deliver a sound Local Plan. They give local control over new towns, housing numbers based on evidence, affordable housing priority for residents, and delivery of key infrastructure before new homes are built. Once these proposals are adopted we’ll be able to support the Local Plan. Until that time it still isn’t fit for purpose.”

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