Jonathan Gullis faces Reform UK backlash ahead of Local Plan vote
MP, campaigners and councillors oppose the controversial plan, which would pave the way for new homes and warehouses on green belt land in Audley, Lyme Park and Knutton
Less than two months after taking control of Newcastle Borough Council, leader Jonathan Gullis is facing one of the biggest tests of his leadership as councillors prepare to vote on the borough's controversial Local Plan tomorrow. While Gullis says the council may have little legal choice but to adopt it, the recommendation has triggered criticism not only from opposition parties and campaigners but also from Reform councillors in some of the areas most affected by the proposals.
In defending the plan, Gullis’s central argument is that Reform inherited it after the independent planning inspector had finished examining it, leaving no opportunity to rewrite it. He is recommending that it is approved at Full Council today (8 July) because it’s already passed through years of consultation and independent examination. He added that failing to adopt it could leave the borough without an up-to-date planning framework and increase the risk of speculative development.
Gullis has said that if Reform had drafted the Local Plan from the outset it would have "done some things differently, including certain site allocations and burdensome regulations we do not believe should have been included", but argues the council inherited the document after the examination process had finished, leaving councillors with a choice between adopting it or risking speculative development.
The disagreement has exposed divisions within Reform itself. In Audley, the proposed site of AB2, construction of six logistics and distribution warehouses and 200-space HGV lorry park is planned, all three Reform borough councillors – Rhys Machin, Patricia Harrison and Janice Sain-Reiners – have issued a joint public statement, which says, “We will not vote for a plan that places further pressure on our local communities when we believe those concerns have not been properly answered.”
And in Mow Cop & Newchapel, Reform councillors Jonathan Downs and Scott Stevenson have since announced they will vote against the Local Plan after previously supporting it, saying they had listened to residents' concerns.
