Saving Green Fields while Promoting Growth in Oadby Town Centre

One of the key roles of a Councillor is to look to the future and try and help put policies in place that will protect our green fields from unwanted housing developments while trying to promote growth and development in Oadby town centre. It's not an easy thing to do and there's no exact science but standing still is not an option. If we bury our heads in the sand Oadby Town Centre will stagnate and eventually die.

One of the first things to look at is the projected housing requirements for the future. All Councils are required by central government to provide more housing in the future. Here in Oadby we are looking at approximately 70 new homes to be built by 2026. It is my belief that over the last 20 years too many four and five bedroom properties have been built on green field sites at the expense of smaller homes or flats on brownfield sites nearer to our town centre. One of the complaints Oadby residents have is where the younger generation going to find suitable flats and smaller homes when they first move out. They're not going to be able to stay in Oadby if we're only building 4/5 bedroom homes. We must have a more diverse housing strategy for the future.

We need homes for residents to rent/part own as well as to buy. We need a range of new homes from 1 bedroom flats to smaller family homes. With this in mind, Lib Dem controlled Oadby & Wigston Borough Council have over the last few years been consulting with residents on policies such as the Area Action Plan and Town Centre Master Plan. These plans aims are to protect our green fields while promoting development around the Town Centre.

All Councils are required to have such plans in place, but unlike most of Leicestershire's councils, these two plans have been heavily consulted on and signed off by the secretary of state. Neglecting to complete these policies would have dire consequences for the borough such as being forced to grant unwanted planning applications to build on greenfield sites. In taking a pro-active approach to planning and development we have ensured that we remain in control of what happens in our local area.

Our Area Action and Town Centre Masterplan plans have been designed to prioritise development near the Town Centre on various brownfield sites. Developing these policies in has not always been easy and some of the decisions have been quite controversial but it would have been negligent of us not to press ahead and get these plans completed and signed off by the Secretary Of State.

The Oadby Conservatives opposed our Masterplan and fought hard against it, looking to score political points rather than achieve what was best for Oadby. Had they gotten their way, Oadby would have been left without a plan for the future and would have been stripped off of its powers to make its own decisions. Thanks to our efforts, the Council is in a strong position to fight against an application to build 150 new homes on a greenfield site next to Glen Gorse Golf Course on the A6, a decision we'd have had no say over if we hadn't developed these plans.

That's why we will continue to plan pro-actively in Oadby, to ensure that we get the kind of developments we need and can protect our countryside from the ones we don't. We hope that the Conservatives will learn from this and work more constructively with us on future issues.