A requirement from central government for 12,000 additional residences to be constructed in Nuneaton and Bedworth over a fifteen-year period has prompted claims that the area has reached its limit.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has set the borough an annual construction target of 737 dwellings, significantly higher than the earlier projection of 421. This equates to 12,000 homes spanning fifteen years, with Town Hall given two and a half years to devise a strategy for their placement.

The directive arrives shortly after the most recent iteration of the Borough Plan was approved and could incur expenses of approximately £250,000.

Delivering a fresh local plan within thirty months has been deemed unachievable by Green councillor Keith Kondakor. He told a full council meeting that while the new local plan must be completed within thirty months, the previous one required roughly four years and the one prior to that took around twelve years. He stated that authorities were being asked to accomplish something impossible, with the government insisting on 12,000 houses over fifteen years. He questioned where on the borough map these properties could possibly be situated, noting that the previous Borough Plan had exhausted available land in areas including Arbury lawn, Weddington, St Nicholas, Whitestone and Bulkington. He called on the council to consider pursuing a judicial review to halt the government’s proposals.

Deputy council leader Mike Bannister indicated that the government was mandating a complete reworking before Local Government Reform, with the expense set to be substantial. He mentioned the possibility of a joint judicial review, explaining that they would contact other councils facing similar difficulties and that if agreement could be reached to share the financial burden, this represented a viable option. He stressed that while the government’s insistence on proceeding despite imminent LGR was unreasonable, they would examine the judicial review avenue but could not sustain such costs independently, suggesting it would need to be a collaborative effort among multiple councils.

The pending outcome of the government’s Local Government Reorganisation presents a significant variable for any housing strategy, as the borough council is due to be abolished and replaced. This could result in either a Warwickshire-wide authority or, as Town Hall favours, a new council serving the north of the county encompassing North Warwickshire and Rugby Borough. In either scenario, the housing numbers for the region could be revised, with demands that the process be suspended until the LGR findings are revealed.

However, councillor Shane Coates-Jarman, cabinet member for planning, confirmed at a local plan meeting that work on the borough plan would continue, with current consultation proceedings underway. This consultation is scheduled to run until mid-August, by which point the government should have published its LGR findings. In the interim, it was agreed that council leader George Finch would correspond with the government regarding concerns about the proposed housing target for the borough.