Confusion over planning policy on English house building shows no sign of abating after the High Court judgement on regional strategies, with some councils adopting core strategies that sustain growth point aspirations through massive greenfield sprawl, while others are scaling their plans down.
Fareham Borough Council has approved its core strategy for the next 15-20 years and included plans for a new 7,500-home sprawl development north of the M27 which it says is preferable to filling the gaps between existing towns.
South Oxfordshire District Council's new core strategy likewise includes 2,000 new sprawl homes north-east of Didcot plus 530 outside Thame, 400 west of Wallingford and 400 around Henley.
But Bath & North East Somerset Council, meanwhile, has approved its core strategy with a big reduction of the target sought by the former South West Regional Assembly in the never completed regional strategy to 11,000, mostly brownfield.
"The unpopular proposed urban extensions into green belt land are to be scrapped and the Council will be prioritising development using brownfield land as far as possible and ensuring the provision of appropriate infrastructure," said Cabinet member for service delivery Charles Gerrish.
"However, the homes target we are proposing to adopt is still ambitious and shaped around our aspirations to support at least an extra 8,700 jobs to the area by 2026."
Fareham was part of a south Hampshire growth point intended to house 80,000 new homes in the abandoned and now temporarily revived South East Plan.
There has been strong local opposition to the Council's strategic development area but its executive leader Seán Woodward said the most important consideration was that the new community must be a place that people want to have in Fareham and where its residents would like to live.
"This means that the scale and quality of the development has to be right and that buildings are constructed to high environmental standards, with new approaches to waste and energy management and the provision of public parks and open spaces," he said.
South Oxofrdshire continued to stress Didcot's growth point status.
"The Council's primary aim is to meet the needs and aspirations of its residents, support business development (particularly in and around Science Vale UK) and protect the environment," it said.
"As Didcot is designated as a growth point, a significant amount of development will occur there."
