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A mother, who has become a campaigner after seeing what is happening in her own locality, has spoken out against Government housing targets and their failure to address the real housing need problem.
Julia Dutfield from Downs Road, Istead Rise, near Gravesend, has joined with others in the Green Not Gr££d group as she seeks to push back against the never-ending pressure from housing development.
Within Istead Rise, there are currently two live sites with developers seeking to add another 254 homes to a community of approximately 1,460 homes.
But within a couple of miles, around Meopham and Sole Street, there are a further six potential development sites, totalling an additional 1,500 homes.
Ms Dutfield said: “We are being told there is a housing crisis and that the government wants to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
“It has given each local authority mandatory targets to achieve this, with Gravesham having to build 676 new homes per year. That’s 3,380 over the next five years!
“But other authorities also have a target they are struggling to meet.”
“Yet with declining birth rates, so many empty homes and no shortage of properties to buy on Right Move, this housing shortage is difficult to understand.
“If you have the money, you have no problem buying a house right now. The people who are struggling are the first-time buyers and low-income families; that is where the need is.
“Unfortunately, these are not the people that developers want to build for. They want profits, and this is not where the money lies.
“Developers are putting forward proposals for high-end developments in rural greenbelt locations, with the promise of 50% being affordable housing to make this an attractive proposition for the council and local people.
“However, they give no clear commitment as to what ‘affordable’ will look like and without that, it’s an empty promise.”
“The council unfortunately, has no power to enforce or regulate the affordable pricing.”
The government defines affordable housing as accommodation rented at a discount of at least 20% on market rent, or sold at a discount of at least 20% on market price.
But Ms Dutfield said: “The homes that will be built in Istead Rise will probably sell for upwards of £750k.
“A 20% discount will bring that down to £600,000 – that is still way beyond the reach of those that need housing.”
She continued: “Many sites put forward are on fertile arable fields which offer good habitats to many different species.”
“Developers are calling these sites ‘grey belt’ and saying they are of no worth.
“Many of their chosen locations also have no infrastructure to support the new developments.
“They do not have GP places or school capacity, a train station or safe walking and cycling routes to local shops.
“There are inevitably problems with traffic capacity on these small roads, and, as we have seen recently, with water supply and drainage.
“These high-end developments will not resolve the housing needs of our local people; they will just attract an influx of new people into the area instead.”
Ms Dutfield said: “Part-buy/part rent schemes are also not a solution to affordability.
“They may help people to get onto the housing ladder, because a smaller deposit is needed, but financially long-term they usually cost more.
“The home is never fully owned by the buyer, meaning they are still paying rent on their own home, even after the mortgage is repaid.
“There are often uncapped high costs associated with these homes as well, including expensive maintenance charges, and these properties are more difficult and complicated to sell on.”
“We need genuinely affordable homes, where we have the infrastructure in place to support them.
“Many local brownfield sites fit these criteria and are desperately in need of regeneration, but developers see them as too costly, so they are left derelict.
“Gravesham, sadly, has many such sites.
“The borough’s new local plan puts forward around 263 acres of greenbelt for building – that is around 175 football pitches worth of our countryside that could be concreted over! How can this loss be justified?”
But Ms Dutfield, who has spent many hours knocking on neighbours’ doors and producing the scores of posters and banners that now adorn a large number of gardens in her home village, has an answer.
She said: “One solution could be to charge an environmental levy on greenbelt builds and those funds could be used for regeneration grants for brownfield sites.
“This would encourage building in places where it is most needed and away from where it would do the most harm.
“Right now, our country and countryside are at the mercy of profit-hungry developers.
“If we cannot fix this problem, we will be facing an irreversible environmental catastrophe of a huge scale!
“We must prevent this from happening!”
“Car-dependent, high-end property developments in our greenbelt without infrastructure do not solve our local housing problems nor ever will!
“It might tick a numbers box, but the long-term environmental consequences will be catastrophic.”
Ms Dutfield, who has an 18-year-old daughter and works in healthcare, lives in one of the oldest properties in Istead Rise, dating from the 1700s.
KentOnline put Ms Dutfield’s criticisms about homes being built without supporting infrastructure and affordable homes not really being affordable to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
A spokesman said: “We’ve launched the biggest overhaul of planning rules in over a decade to build the homes the country needs – with all areas, including Kent, expected to play their part.
“We’re backing this with a £39 billion investment in social and affordable housing, which will help people in need access housing.
“This is alongside ensuring new homes come with the infrastructure that communities rely on like schools and GP surgeries.”
