Council accused of ignoring housing shortage

A housebuilder has accused a council of "doing nothing" to meet a housing shortage in a public inquiry into a rejected proposal for 600 homes.

In March, Stockton Council's planning committee rejected Taylor Wimpey's £133m plan for land east of Holdenfields Farm in Yarm but the developers appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate.

Sasha White KC, representing the developer, said the council showed a "complete disregard" for government policy, adding it had "literally for 30 months done nothing" to move forward a new Local Plan.

The council previously told the inquiry the proposal is "unsustainable" highlighting traffic issues and limited capacity to provide an electrical supply.

The Local Plan adopted in January 2019, covers how many new homes are needed, where they should be built and guides planning decisions until 2032, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

White cross-examined the council's planning consultant Mary-Jane O'Neill on the fifth day of the inquiry.

He said: "What happened, the mystery of 30 months? We seem to be walking down exactly the same road in June 2026, 30 months later.

"In two-and-a-half years there's no attempt to update the Local Plan to represent the up-to-date requirement for housing, is there?"

White told the hearing Stockton Council faced a shortfall of more than 800 homes and had almost 3,000 households on the housing register.

He asked: "Do you accept that since 2017-18 the council significantly under-provided affordable housing?"

O'Neill told the inquiry she accepted there was "a shortfall".

"It was agreed that there is an unmet need in terms of affordable housing," she said.

O'Neill agreed there was "no interim policy" to deliver new housing and meet the shortfall once it was identified.

However, she disputed an allegation the council's planning committee had "sought to refuse nearly all housing applications", saying approvals and refusals were evenly divided and plans were judged on their merits.

O'Neill said she felt Taylor Wimpey's plan should be refused, and did not agree with the council officers' original recommendation to approve the plan.

"There are a number of issues to consider and conflict with the development plan is fundamental in my judgment," she said.

O'Neill agreed it was "almost inevitable" the council would need to identify greenfield sites which lie beyond settlement limits to build new homes, but said beyond the Yarm boundary was "not necessarily" the only logical place and that brownfield sites could come forward.

She also agreed there was no bar to delivering the Yarm homes if approved except for the issue of electricity.

However, O'Neill said a proposal of a new substation was just a possibility, needed third-party land and there was no planning permission or application for it, so she maintained it "did not meet the test" for infrastructure being available for the new homes.

The inquiry continues.

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