Liberal Democrats have given their support to a strongly worded response to the government on the hotly debated issue of the housing requirements within the regional spatial strategy. A government which doesn’t listen to people will eventually get told where to go, and sooner rather than later.  We will be submitting our own response to the government to raise issues, such as the need for student housing to be taken into account in the housing numbers, and we will be calling on residents to do the same. 

We need to get more people on board to influence the government – members of the Council need to go out there and tell their residents what is happening. 

It must be common sense that purpose-built student accommodation blocks should count towards RSS housing targets and could therefore help protect against building on green field sites and our green belt.  It is crazy that new halls of residence for students do not count in the RSS figures. 

The government cannot be trusted in relation to the regional spatial strategy.  The government cannot be trusted in relation to the green belt. These housing requirement figures are not based on evidence.  The response before us tonight was formed by the enterprise and economic development overview and scrutiny panel and is not the product of one political party.  The response reflects the concerns on the changed economic climate, along with the basis upon which these figures have been calculated.