The cost-effective way to stabilise housing affordability right across Britain

This is the latest update to the existing petition and is for the information of all present signatories.

Thank you to all of you for supporting this petition. It is starting to make good progress. It is designed to stop Westminster taking away our democratic right to decide planning matters affecting our local communities and stop these being made in an undemocratic way, remotely from central government.

If you don’t want such decisions to be made by ministers in parliament or by their appointed planning inspectors thus over-ruling and/or ignoring valid local concerns, please sign this petition if you have not already done so.

The plan to build the 1,500,000 new houses which the government say are needed has no rationale whatsoever. There are plenty of existing properties that are either vacant or wrongly purposed and not available for residential occupation by those working locally, including those requiring family accommodation. Repurposing these could achieve the desired result and far more quickly as well. The other vital aspect is affordability. This is a key issue, which is highly unlikely to be achieved through the government’s present mass development proposals.

Are you against Westminster having the right to define the future development of land in our local areas?

Local people should retain the right to define the present and future needs of our communities, using adopted and enhanced Neighbourhood Development Plans (ENDPs) made in keeping with newly revised planning laws. (Please see the dedicated website referred to in the petition itself for a full explanation of how all that could work.)

If you agree please sign the petition and also ask those whom may agree with it to do so too. Your work in broadcasting these issues and getting signatures is so important..

As explained in the petition itself, at least 100,000 signatures are required before it will be considered for a debate in parliament, so I hope you will support this endeavour to deal, expeditiously, with the present housing crisis.

With my best wishes and intentions, Peter Hendry.