A COUNCILLOR has called for appropriate, affordable development as the council addresses its shortage of housing land supply.

According to government policy, Herefordshire Council has to show it has a five year supply of land for new homes.

Currently the council can only prove a four and a half year supply, but it is not alone as 70 per cent of local authorities are failing to achieve exactly what the government wants.

The cabinet were asked to approve an interim statement about how the council is addressing the shortage and why it falls below.

The statement outlines that the council positively encourages developers to come forward with proposals for suitable housing developments, but also highlights that this positive approach does not

mean that all applications for new housing development will be permitted.

Cllr Sebastian Bowen said he was pleased to read this as developers appear to think they can suggest homes for any piece of land.

He said: "I know we need to have houses. They should be in appropriate places, in appropriate styles and do the best for the needs of our population and that doesn't mean all huge four or five bedroom executive housing, we need small housing as well as big housing."

Cllr Elissa Swinglehurst said although the council dictates when building work needs to begin, it does not outline an end date, which means developers end up 'banking land.'

Cllr Philip Price said he is writing to the county MPs to explain why he thinks the five year policy is 'broken.'

He said the developer needs to sell the property they are going to build, which is why land banking sometimes happens.

Cllr Price said: "The end result is that if, post-Brexit, we still have low wage economy and the people who want to buy houses, whether they are small, medium or large, if they are unable to buy it because they can't get a mortgage, then developers will sit on housing land."

Cllr Terry James added: "Most of the these permissions we are giving won't be delivered for some considerable time because the demand is not there at the moment."

Cllr Bob Matthews said the only thing that will increase housing growth is to have better paid jobs and a thriving local economy.

The cabinet councillors approved the interim position statement on housing delivery.