The Council for the Protection of Rural England has said that the government's plans for housing development in four areas of rural England could "devastate the countryside".

Forum Response: Woodland Trust

Ed Pomfret, spokesman for the Woodland Trust, told ePolitix.com: "We clearly need to address the requirement for social housing in the South East. However, like the CPRE, the Woodland Trust is concerned about the proposals for development in the four growth areas.

"Redevelopment of brownfield land in the Thames Gateway area is a sensible solution to the housing problems but it is important that we do not miss the opportunity to develop the area sustainably and in a measured way. New homes must be built in a way that ensures that they have as low impact on the environment as possible and sustainable transport solutions must be devised before development goes ahead.

"Development in the three other growth areas would be extremely worrying. Large scale development of the areas around Milton Keynes, Ashford and along the M11 corridor would herald massive destruction of the environment. There are significant areas of ancient woodland (land continually wooded since at least AD1600) near to these settlements which would come under severe pressure if these proposals were to go ahead.

"The Woodland Trust opposes any development that would damage ancient woodland, which is our richest habitat for wildlife and is irreplaceable. We are therefore concerned at the proposals for large scale development in the largest concentration of ancient woodland in the country and will be monitoring the situation closely."Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance told ePolitix.com: "The Countryside Alliance remains convinced that any new development should occur on brownfield sites within the South East. There are huge areas of land which have been developed in the past and are no longer in use, large areas within the boundaries formed by roads and motorways as well as spaces 'in between' existing development in towns and cities, which could accommodate a lot of this new development.

"While the Countryside Alliance acknowledges that to sustain local communities, some new development on greenfield sites should occur, particularly in the case of affordable homes for local workers in rural commuter villages, the vast majority of the new development should be on these brownfield sites.

"We wish to further re-emphasise that more should be done to encourage development and investment in under-privileged areas of the country, such as the North, and parts of the Midlands, in an effort to reduce the North-South divide.

"This is also required for environmental reasons, in the light of yesterday's report by the Environment Agency indicating that severe water shortages in the South East are to become the norm over the next few decades owing to climate change. This will be further compounded by heavy development in this area, as the deputy prime minister has proposed."