Rushcliffe’s Conservative parliamentary candidate Ruth Edwards wants planning rules changed to force developers to build key infrastructure at the same time as housing developments.
Developers often don’t build a new school or health centre until a certain amount of the market housing in a development is completed and occupied – much to the frustration of councils and residents who see existing services put under pressure.
To solve the problem, Ruth will be lobbying to change the rules.
Under her proposals, developers would be required to build the infrastructure before or at the same time the housing is started. They would be offered an interest free loan to finance it with the Government taking the development site itself as collateral.
Once a site was completed and the housing sold, developers would pay back the loan to central Government.
“For too long developers have used arguments about economic viability to put off building key infrastructure such as schools or GP surgeries until after a housing development is completed,” explained Ruth. “I think that needs to be turned on its head.”
“Let’s change the planning rules to force these vital projects to be built before or at the same time as a housing development is started, allowing the community to have use of facilities straight away and preventing other local services from becoming overstretched.
“Rushcliffe needs infrastructure and we can’t wait for developers to finish all the houses before they start building it.”