Green belt threatened by rising housing targets
Friday, July 18 2008
Level of development is "unsustainable".
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government yesterday published her formal response to the South East Plan. The Government’s revised proposals include removing Green Belt protection in parts of Reigate and Banstead and increasing the targets for new housing. The proposals will now be open to a public consultation until October.
The original South East Plan was prepared by the South East of England Regional Authority (SEERA) and published in 2006 setting out ambitious housing targets to be met by 2026. The Plan proposed that Reigate and Banstead should aim to build 4740 dwellings at a rate of 237 new dwellings each year.
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Last summer a committee of planning inspectors revised those figures upwards, raising the target by 1500 dwellings. In yesterday’s announcement the Secretary of State again increased the targets for new housing to 8240 at a rate of 412 new dwellings per year. Reigate and Banstead will now be expected to build a further 3500 on top of the original target.
Alongside new higher targets for housing, the Secretary of State also threatens to redraw the boundary of the Green Belt. This is despite the Prime Minister's promise in the House of Commons last July that he would "robustly" protect land designated as Green Belt.
Speaking from his Reigate constituency this morning Crispin Blunt MP attacked the revised South East Plan as unsustainable, "These figures are beyond belief. It really does bring into question why the views of the people and their representatives in the South East are even bothered with. First the Secretary of State’s Inspector and then the Secretary of State more than doubled the housing targets agreed by the region at the stroke of a pen.
"Even those original figures were a compromise for the borough of Reigate and Banstead. My constituents are already painfully aware of the impact of a growing population on their local services. Now they see that the Green Belt which was established to prevent urban sprawl is being disregarded to make way for thousands of new homes.
"I would remind Ministers that the Green Belt is at its narrowest in the constituency of Reigate and it is here they plan to reduce it further along with the greatest concentration of housing."
Mr Blunt went on to say, "The result will be urban sprawl, extra congestion and more flooding – in short the quality of life for people in the South East will be further jeopardised. I will now urgently consult with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council on how we can be best defend this assault on the vital interests of the people we represent."
