Personally Speaking: 'Community pride must be reflected in planning'
- Adam Jogee MP
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Where we live, whether there are enough school places for our children, if GP surgeries and NHS services can meet local demand, how we improve transport connectivity across the community and how we protect the green spaces that make Newcastle-under-Lyme special – all of these things are shaped, in part, by the Local Plan.
Earlier this year, Newcastle-under-Lyme District Borough Council submitted its draft Local Plan for examination. The Plan decides where new homes will go and what infrastructure must accompany that growth; directly setting expectations for school places, doctors’ surgeries, roads, and public transport. In short, the Local Plan is about ensuring our community grows in a way that works for our people now – and for generations to come.
That is why the Planning Inspector’s recent hearing conclusions are so important. She has been clear: the Local Plan as submitted is not sound and cannot be adopted in its current form. Significant changes will be needed before it can go forward – and many of the concerns she has raised are the very same issues I set out in my formal response on behalf of residents, and which local Labour councillors have consistently highlighted.
The Inspector raised several major problems – questioning whether the case for building on parts of the Green Belt had been made clearly enough; casting doubt on whether some housing sites can be delivered at all, given problems such as flood risk, access, or contamination; and highlighting the lack of clear evidence about how schools, GPs, hospitals, roads and public transport will cope with extra demand. She also found that in some cases the Council had been too optimistic about how quickly new homes could be built, particularly on more challenging sites.
She also drew attention to issues that have a direct bearing on everyday life in our community. She asked whether enough has been done to set out a long-term parking strategy for the town centre, so that regeneration does not undermine its vitality. She noted that some housing sites are heavily constrained by flooding, and in at least one case recommended that an allocation be removed entirely. She also warned that the timetable for delivering new homes was overly optimistic – with some sites unlikely to see any houses built until well into the 2030s because of problems like contamination. These are not minor details. They go to the heart of whether the Plan will work in practice – and whether it commands the confidence of local people.
For residents, these concerns will sound very familiar. In Audley and Betley, people regularly tell me about poor public transport links and stretched services. In Chesterton, Silverdale and Clayton, parents worry about school capacity and access to health care. People across our community want affordable homes and good local jobs – but they want reassurance that development will come with the services and infrastructure needed to support communities properly.
The Local Plan is, at its heart, about community – about making sure change works for local people and improves the places where they live. And that sense of pride in our community and our country is something I see every day in Newcastle-under-Lyme. In recent weeks there has even been debate about how people show that pride, with flags appearing locally and sparking discussion. Pride in our flag and our country should be a good and unifying thing. It reminds us that residents care deeply about their identity, their community and their future.
That pride should be reflected in the Local Plan itself – in a strategy that protects what is special about our area, while ensuring new development is backed by the schools, health services, transport links and green spaces that people depend on.
