Lib Dems Achieve Victory

1.18.13pm GMT Wed 25th Jan 2006

Milton Keynes Partnership Committee (MKPC) has bowed to pressure from the Lib Dem Council leadership to seek agreement to an extension to the timetable for new housing plans in Milton Keynes.

A letter signed jointly by Sir Bob Reid, Chair of MKPC, and Isobel McCall, Leader of the Council, has now been sent to SEERA, the Regional Planning body, to recommend a new timetable for consultation. The letter sets out a revised timetable that moves, and increases, the period for public consultation on detailed options to the months of June to September.

MKPC had been planning to have produce Milton Keynes housing numbers and plans by April. There has been universal condemnation of the timetable and process over the last few months by local people and organisations.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Isobel McCall, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to use our position on the Partnership Committee to persuade other members that the original timetable was not realistic and was threatening all support for growth in Milton Keynes. There is still an enormous amount of work to be done to analyse the 2,000 responses from the first phase of consultation and to carry our more work before decisions can be reached on the preferred option/s for new development."

Councillor McCall had been arguing for an extension to the timetable to ensure that there was sufficient time to carry out the work properly and to allow enough time for further meaningful consultation with the public. She announced last week that the Council, which is responsible for providing the housing numbers to SEERA, didn't intend to submit numbers in April.

"The growth of Milton Keynes will not be successful unless local people are on board," added Isobel McCall. "Decisions taken by MKPC on housing numbers, and where the housing should go, will have very far-reaching implications for the success of Milton Keynes. Liberal Democrats believe it is essential that we have sufficient time to take the right decision. John Prescott's houses will have long term implications for future generations and we must all ensure we get it right".