To date our Petition has attracted over 8,000 signatures and we are pushing to get the additional 2,000 at which point the Government will have to provide us with their response, which at worse will force them to have a look at Policy. 

Not that we expect a favourable response. Indeed, the Government seems determined to push on with their totally ridiculous targets and worse. Now the Government has decided to take away the rights of Councils to make their own decisions on any application for more than 10 houses. The Planning Inspectorate in London will now make those decisions. If you think that is just a threat, ask Wychavon, West Malvern, Hertsmere, Bury where the threat has become a reality, all because they chose to look at Applications with due care and diligence. So now we will have houses with no doctors, no dentists, no water, no sewage disposal, no hospital, no school places, and probably no ‘affordable’ houses, which is what the villages actually need to house the villagers and those who serve the village. 

The Government hopes to frighten other Councils into passing unwanted, unplanned and frankly opportunistic Applications just to achieve a ‘paper figure’.  And, let's be honest, even if they are not, many of these will not be built as the Builders will not be able to make a profit by doing so.  

So we will be left with many thousands of Applications approved but NOT BUILT. The Government blame this on the Planning System. The system is in good shape – their policy is an outrage against our democratic rights. 

Interesting to see that slowly, slowly some politicians are entering the fray on our side. Where were they when this whole scenario began to take shape? I remember a Councillor saying to me in August 2025 that I should not lobby Planning Committees, indeed that it was unlawful. Well that did not stop the builders, did it, and has led to the situation we are in today. 

I say to the Government, solve your problems with taxes and rules for the building industry and get London building again, and TALK TO US before you make any additional errors. The electorate will remember both those whose policy it was, and those who stood back and let it happen.  

MAID has developed a petition calling on Central Government to “Pause housebuilding targets imposed on councils, review and identify local need.”
 

“We ask the government to pause housebuilding targets and consult local communities to identify where substantial house building is needed, not where developers prefer to build. We worry about developers appealing rejected applications and councils and communities often having no funds for a defence.”

Follow the link below to access the petition and sign.
 

Please share this link with everyone you know and ask them to lend their support:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/762214 

At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament