WHENEVER the subject of homes and development crops up it is an emotive subject and understandably so.

Which is why as a council we want as many people as possible to be involved in the decision-making process in selecting suitable sites for the future for our Local Plan – the Government has set SDC a target for house building which we must reach.

The Government is dictating to all local authorities the number of houses that they need to find land for – apart from lobbying them, there is little we can do to change that. When we got our Local Plan for development adopted in 2015 it was approved by Government on the proviso that we reviewed it shortly after, and that’s what is being proposed now.

The Local Plan as it stands required us to find room for 11,400 homes in the 25 years up to 2031 and now we have been told to find room for an extra 1,400 on top of that between 2020 and 2040.

That’s a big increase and the environment committee is being asked to launch a major public consultation on potential sites – many have been put forward and more may be suggested but no decision has been made on which sites will be in the new version of the Local Plan.

If people can suggest other sites, they are welcome to do so, and they will be assessed for their suitability by planners who will take in to account factors like flood risk.

This consultation is expected to last for eight weeks and it’s right that an extended period like this is proposed, so people can have their say.

It also won’t be the last chance for people to have their say, as the plan is expected only to be adopted by the end of 2020. It’s a long process,and there will be further consultation on a draft plan in autumn 2019 and in 2020 when the plan is finalised.

This week the environment committee deferred the decision to launch the consultation and that shows that we are listening.