Gordon Brown gives green light to concrete over South East Green Belt - with worrying implications for Winchester.
Gordon Brown has been accused of breaking his promise to protect the local Green Belt.
In a new regional planning document from Hazel Blears, councils are instructed by the Secretary of State to remove Green Belt protection in a number of areas across the South East.
Now, the Government has announced increases in the required housing numbers for the Winchester district, as part of its South East Plan Review. Winchester is now required to provide 12,740 homes over the next 20 years, an increase of 500 from the Panel Report figure, and an increase of 2,301 from the original 2006 Draft Plan.
Cllr George Beckett, Conservative leader of Winchester City Council said, “The Government’s decision to increase housing numbers for the Winchester District has made our job more difficult and amounts to an instruction from Westminster to build on greenfield land.
“Since the draft South East Plan in 2006 Winchester District has seen an increase of 22% in its required housing numbers, the largest increase in Hampshire. We are committed to providing a sound framework for local planning (the Local Development Framework) but these increases will make it harder to do so without greenfield development.”
Prospective Winchester MP, Steve Brine added; “Gordon Brown’s promise that he would protect the Green Belt has been exposed to be worthless. Labour Ministers are giving the green light to Green Belt destruction. And by pushing up Whitehall building targets, I am concerned that this will lead to unsustainable urban sprawl, extra congestion, higher carbon emissions and more flooding, harming people’s quality of life.
“We need more homes, but Labour’s plans will only deliver the sink estates of the 21st Century – lacking proper infrastructure or environmental sustainability.”
The proposed changes to the South East Plan were published today (July 17 2008) by GOSE (Government Office for the South East) and show the proposed changes to housing numbers for the whole of the South East region. The full report can be read online here.
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Need further explanation / Want to take part in the consultation?
The South East Plan sets out a vision for the future of the South East region to 2026, outlining how to respond to challenges facing the region such as housing, the economy, transport and protecting the environment.
The Draft Plan was submitted to Government on 31 March 2006, following more than two years’ development work and final approval by SEERA full Assembly meeting on 1 March 2006.
Examination in Public - Consultation on behalf of an independent panel of inspectors ran from 31 March until 23 June 2006. The Examination-in-Public ran from 28 November 2006 until 30 March 2007.The inspectors’ report was published by the Government Office for the South East on 29 August 2007.
Proposed changes to the Plan have been published today (July 17 2008). Consultation on these proposals runs until October 24 2008 and the relevant documents, including feedback forms, can be found here.
You can also download the full 'Further Consultation' document from GOSE here (this will open as a PDF file).
Finally, if you disagree with the Government's latest figures for housing targets in the South East, you can let Gordon Brown know by signing the petition on the No.10 website here.
Pictured; Steve Brine and WCC leader, Cllr George Beckett discuss the implications for Winchester of the latest changes in the South East Plan.