Cllr Noel Ovenden visits No10 Downing Street Photo:ABC
Ashford Borough Council Leader, Cllr Noel Ovenden, visited 10 Downing Street this week (Monday 17 July) to meet with the Prime Minister’s special advisors to discuss Government support in finding a national solution to nutrient neutrality.
The Leader specifically raised the need to unblock the building of affordable homes in Ashford.
Cllr Noel Ovenden, Leader of Ashford Borough Council, said: “With hundreds of desperately needed affordable, shared ownership and social homes held up by the moratorium on building in the Stour Valley due to the ongoing pollution of the Stodmarsh nature reserve, we need Government intervention now, and I made this very clear.
“What we’re facing is a lack of ownership of the problem. Somebody in Government needs to take possession of the issue. The Prime Minister needs to act quickly to help us get our Local Plan back on track to deliver much needed homes in the right places and put a stop to the speculative applications we are seeing across the borough.”
Last week Cllr Ovenden joined a number of local authority leaders across the country in signing a letter asking Prime Minister, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, to act now on nutrient neutrality. Without it, they say, it will continue to stifle housing development and local economies.
The letter from the District Councils’ Network, outlined the concerns from local government leaders, and demanded Government intervention.
A roundtable discussion on the issue took place at the Local Government Association Conference in Bournemouth earlier this month.
Homes halted
In Ashford the delivery of 10,000 much needed homes has been halted. In addition to stopping building this has a particular impact on affordable housing as the council has been forced to agree two-thirds fewer affordable houses due to viability being undermined by additional costs to developers.
Solutions stalled
Possible strategic solutions, such as wetlands, have also stalled, despite the council being willing to invest considerable forward funding, because key Government organisations are not working constructively with the local authority and constantly change their advice or stance on the matter.