Housing plans would “wreck” countryside say campaigners
Government plans to increase the availability of affordable housing will unleash a wave of house building across the country and do little to help those in greatest housing need, campaigners warn.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) claims plans to overhaul the planning system will undermine efforts to regenerate run-down urban areas and leave permanent scars on the countryside.
Under the proposals, announced in July, market forces, in the form of house prices, would be a dominant factor in the location, size and release of land for housing development.
Deputy prime minister John Prescott claims the plans will make it easier for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder by making suitable land for development available more quickly.
But the CPRE believes that by giving developers permission to develop land in areas of high house prices, the proposals will trigger a wave of house building on “greenfield” sites, such as on the outskirts of attractive towns and villages.
Meanwhile, the plans would mean “brownfield” sites in run-down urban areas, with lower house prices, being ignored by developers, the organisation claims.
Campaigners are meeting in London on Saturday to try and persuade ministers to reconsider the plans, first recommended as part of a review of housing supply conducted for the government by Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.
They also accuse the government of breaking its own consultation guidelines by giving the public less than half the usual period to respond to the plans.
Neil Sinden, the CPRE’s director of policy, called on ministers to listen to “widespread public concern” over the proposals.
“Parts of the country desperately need more affordable housing but, as Kate Barker herself pointed out, a huge wave of house building for sale wouldn’t even dent that problem,” he said.
“Yet it would threaten the future health of our towns and cities and wreck the countryside.”
But Yvette Cooper, minister for housing and planning, said the objections raised were “nonsense” and insisted the proposals included protection for the countryside and greenfield sites.
“They also make the planning system more sensitive to housing need, because for too long this country has not been building enough homes,” Ms Cooper is quoted by the BBC as saying.
“People should stop using myths and misinformation to block the new homes the next generation desperately needs,” she added.
