Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to use Chelmer model in attempt to challenge 17,820 homes allocation

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has agreed to use “hard, factual genuine data” as it builds a case to object to its housing allocation by central Government.

The borough has been tasked with building 17,820 homes by 2039 – a move which has led to protests and has been rejected by borough councillors.

The council is now in the process of updating its Local Plan – which provides a framework for where developments are built in the borough – and is required to target 17,820 units, a figure which has been calculated through the Government’s standard methodology.

It has been revealed, however, that this method uses data which is 13 years out of date, and the council is now hoping to claim ‘exceptional circumstances’ in an effort to reduce its allocated number of homes.

In a council meeting, councillors unanimously voted to pass a motion for its cabinet to explore the Chelmer Housing Projection Model, which incorporates 2021 Census data, while still progressing with its Local Plan Update.

Councillors then hope the figure from this model will “identify a more robust and credible lower figure than that currently proposed”, and will fit the criteria of ‘exceptional circumstances’, justifying an alternative approach to the standard methodology.

Presenting the motion, councillor Paul Harvey (Norden, BDI) said: “Let’s not blindly walk into 18,000 houses thinking we can argue our way out of it with warm words at the 11th hour.

“Let’s get the lower housing number we want, and shape our Local Plan going forward using that data – hard factual, genuine data, not some mathematical extrapolation that will be 15 years out of date.”

The motion was supported by many councillors, including the Conservative Evingar councillor Samuel Carr, who will be up for re-election in May’s local elections.

He said: “I’m pleased to support any effort through any legal route that delivers us a sound Local Plan with a lower number at the front.”

Former mayor Diane Taylor (Con, Oakley and The Candovers) said her ward was by far the biggest target for housing, with the proposed 3,500 North Manydown development, and up to 9,500 in South Manydown and surrounding areas.

She added: “I’ll support anything that might give us a fighting chance of keeping those housing numbers down.”

Some councillors expressed their doubts, however, over the number that would be produced from the Chelmer model, and warned it wouldn’t necessarily give the council the figure it wanted.

Gavin James (Lib Dem, Eastrop and Grove) said: “We don’t know what the Chelmer approach will achieve.

“If you go cherry picking to find the number you want to hear, then you’re failing the people of Basingstoke and Deane.

“We need to meet the needs of our population, whether that’s lower than 17,000, higher, or the same.

“Forty per cent of homes we build are affordable homes.

“For every 1,000 homes we knock off what we need, that’s 400 affordable homes.”