'Hexit' rejected as draft Local Plan approved

Speaking on the subject, Councillor Roger Ramsey, Leader of Havering Council, said:

“I’m pleased that common sense prevailed and this motion was rejected. Havering’s been a London Borough for more than 50 years, and a majority of residents supported the creation of the GLA in 1999. Havering residents get a number of benefits from being part of London, including Freedom Passes and access to other subsidised transport schemes. We also cooperate across London to deliver local police and fire services as well as our transport and highways infrastructure.

“We’ll always keep the matter under review, but there’s been a lot of false information flying around in the debate over housing and ‘Hexit’. The reality is that, at the present time, this a completely unrealistic prospect. We’d still be bound by national planning rules whether we’re in London or Essex. These rules require us to plan for new housing. If we don’t do this, planning decisions can be taken out of our hands through appeals to the Planning Inspector.”

Havering’s draft Local Plan also received approval at the Full Council meeting. The Plan will now be examined by the Planning Inspectorate. This is likely to happen in late 2017 or early 2018.

Councillor Roger Ramsey, Leader of Havering Council, added:

“We’re doing everything possible to ensure new building is of a high standard, is supported by new infrastructure, and is in the right places. For example, we’ve just approved a new draft Local Plan for the borough, which, once adopted, will update our planning policies, giving us more local control over development. It’s also untrue to say that we’re planning to build 30,000 houses. In fact, in the proposed submission Local Plan we have a target of 1,170 new homes per year for the next fifteen years.”