CHANGES to housing targets for councils are “inevitable” under the next Prime Minister, according to the deputy leader of BCP Council.

Cllr Philip Broadhead said extending the timetable to produce the first conurbation-wide Local Plan gave “breathing space” to incorporate any reforms implemented by Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.

The senior Conservative councillor provided his assessment on the potential for change while giving an update on the Local Plan process to cabinet colleagues.

As reported, initially civic leaders aimed to have the key policy document, adopted by summer next year, but the initial issues and options consultation was delayed until the start of this year.

Now the council is aiming to have the Local Plan in place by the end of 2024, with the formal draft Local Plan going out for public consultation in late 2023.

Cllr Broadhead said this additional time was important to ensure full and proper discussions could take place with residents and businesses before proposed policies were developed.

Cllr Jude Butt, lead member for engagement, asked Cllr Broadhead if he felt changes in Government, coming in early September when Conservative members appoint the party’s new leader, would impact on housing targets.

Cllr Broadhead said: “I think it is inevitable. We have heard directly from the two final candidates to be our next Prime Minister recently, who have already said there may well be a change in direction with some of the planning reforms.

“That is another reason why giving us a little bit of breathing space instead of trying to finalise things this year to give it to the end of next year to come up with a draft Local Plan.

“It gives us the chance to react to that.”

The house-building target and the pressure it puts on finding sites to build on across the BCP Council area is one of the main concerns for residents, with many urging the local authority to protect the Green Belt.

Cllr Broadhead has put his unease over the target for house building from the government’s usual equation in the conurbation on the record.

Council officers have invested time and resources into exploring a locally derived target to more accurately reflect the area’s housing need. This would be much lower than the standard methodology, which produces an expectation of 2,700 new homes per year up to 2038.

Cllr Broadhead told cabinet: “I sense from what I am hearing from the candidates that there will be some changes on the housing numbers and either no mandated housing targets or a slight relaxation in favour of a locally derived figure, which is exactly what our preference is and exactly what we are doing here.

“I am feeling quite confident actually that the approach that we have taken here, saying a standard methodology with some errors in isn’t quite good enough, we have got a locally derived figure that either works with the standard method and fixes the errors or looks purely at a needs-based approach is exactly the thrust from what I am seeing from the candidates.

“I am hoping it is heading in the right direction. We have got the space, the time and the resource to be able to react to it.”