Danny Bonnett is a Green Party candidate for Thornbury Town Council. In this post, he shares the Green Party's policy on housing. He also responds to a question from local residents about our stance on housing development in South Glos and the role proposed by the metro mayor of South Glos in addressing Bristol's unmet housing needs.
Plans should be aligned with local needs
The Green Party’s policy on housing and house building seeks to change the current system from one where central government dictates to the regions the numbers of homes to be built. Instead, we are calling for housing provision targets to be based upon housing needs surveys produced or commissioned by local authorities. Commercial house builders and their representatives shall not be involved in the process of identifying potential sites or assessing housing needs on behalf of the local community.
To ensure that there is still a coordination on a national scale, the Green Party also proposes that strategies should link with local planning policies. This would ensure that there are sufficient buildings and land identified to meet targets, while ensuring that planning policy encourages sustainable patterns of development. To add some colour to that, there are proposals to ensure a mixture of housing provision, including on brownfield land, and refurbishment, with a range of attributes, with all being "affordable, secure and comfortable".
South Glos developments should be fit for the future
In the context of the green field developments that we are used to seeing springing up in South Gloucestershire, the Green Party would push for developments to be fit for the future. This means having dwellings with very low energy consumption, due to excellent levels of insulation and heating from heat pumps. It also means ensuring they are a walkable distance to primary schools and a cyclable distance to a secondary school, and other amenities (health/retail/social). In addition, they need to have a good access to public transport before the first resident moves in, and strong nature corridors woven through any developments for the benefit of people and nature alike.
On the specific question of whether Green Councillors would support imposition of housing targets from central government, the answer would be “No”. Green councillors would work to establish a robust housing strategy for South Gloucestershire, with more focus on affordability, and sustainability than can be achieved with the current developer-led approach.
