Surrey Heath Borough Council has proved that England has lost all sense of its direction, and now lives in Alice in Wonderland. For those who don’t know where Surrey Heath is located, its capital is Camberley. A location I rarely visited despite living in Surrey Heath for over thirty years. Why? Well go yourselves and look and you’ll see why. So the news this week the recently elected Liberal Democrat council has chosen a housing requirement of under a third of the 864 home- per-annum need identified by the new Labour government’s new standard method for calculating local housing need shows how little importance the councillors give to affordable housing for the next generation; how little weight they give to supporting economic growth; and how little understanding they have of their duty to preserve and enhance our nation’s, and their area’s future.
The scary thing is that their recent predecessors, the previous Conservative controlled council, were just as blind, just as wilful, and just as myopic. Needless to say the chances of Labour winning control of the council is zero. Thinking again about how Reading’s Labour council reacted to my essay for a large urban extension ten years ago, there must be serious doubt that at local level a hypothetical Labour led Surrey Heath Borough Council would show any more insights. So where do we go from here? Give up, or go for growth?
I have attributed opposition to local change to local lobby groups. But it is worse than that! If you like the home owners versus the rest.There is a lot of truth in this explanation. But it is also the clear case that a large section of the voting electorate simply do not want land use change on the scale that is needed. If a larger percentage of the electorate actually voted would this make the difference? It would help. But not I suspect enough to put civic common sense back in control of Surrey Heath.
There is another option. Radical but possible. It will cost those who keep saying no, that they must pay for the privilege. To set up a sub-regional new town development corporation to build all of Surrey Heath’s new homes beyond the borders of Surrey Heath as part of a new economic growth region built on unprotected land to the West. Say between Camberley, Basingstoke, Reading, and Yateley over the next two generations, until about 2084.:
Who pays the host communities to make it worth their while to agree to accept Surrey Heath’s overspill. Well the residents of Surrey Heath of course, who clearly want continued prosperity and growth but do not want the consequences. This means introducing a household rates surcharge for all Surrey Heath households. It also means a rates subsidy for all households in the host council areas. After all we live in a capitalist system so this seems a fair and equitable means of spreading the load.
In addition, provided Surrey Heath can find some far-sighted local councillors who ensure the new development corporation buys all the building land long before hope takes hold, they will ensure the size of their ratepayers surcharge is kept as low as possible.
I wonder if Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Matthew Pennycook will grasp the nettle? If they have the courage, then first they must get the support of Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders in Westminster. Because this sort of radical policy change cannot happen in five years. To deliver the growth the Prime Minister say is his top priority he must take on the Surrey Heath mind-set. Yes, it is a crazy mind-set but it is believed by far too many people. It cannot be ducked yet again. If not, prepare for the next stage of national decline. Disillusionment followed by Argentinaitis.
Ian Campbell
15 January 2025
