Countryside Campaigners Welcome Thames Gateway Delivery Plan

30 November 2007

‘We have for many years championed the potential for regeneration in the Thames Gateway to help protect the countryside across the South East. We welcome the Government’s renewed efforts to promote sustainable development there.’

This is the reaction of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) [1] to the publication of the Thames Gateway Delivery Plan [2] by the Prime Minister and Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, yesterday (Thursday).

Dr Hilary Newport, CPRE’s Thames Gateway Project Leader, said:

‘We particularly welcome Gordon Brown’s commitment to protecting the Green Belt, the Parklands project and the re-use of brownfield sites for new housing. [3]

‘But as our report [4] last week shows, there is still a long way to go in delivering our shared aspirations for the Gateway. We will need to see major improvements in design quality and sustainability of building if it is to justify its description as an ‘eco-region’. CPRE will continue to be vigilant in pressing for a high quality landscape alongside improved environmental standards for all new development in the area.’

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. The Thames Gateway Delivery Plan sets out how the ‘cross-Government investment of more than £9 billion will be spent to delivery Europe’s largest regeneration project’. For more details go to: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/thamesgateway/deliveryplan

3. In his speech the Prime Minister said: ‘We are also determined that housing growth must not be at the expense of the environment. That is why we are setting a target to build 80% of the additional homes on brownfield sites and we are preserving the existing strong protection for green belt land.’ The Delivery Plan also announces the appointment of Sir Terry Farrell as Design Champion for the Thames Gateway Parklands ‘a new programme to celebrate and enhance the individual character of the Gateway backed by a £35 million allocation of Thames Gateway funding to invest in improving the natural and urban environment’.

4. CPRE’s new report Focus on the Thames Gateway 2 revealed that, over the past year, progress was achieved against just five out of ten key indicators in the region. For more information go to: http://www.cpre.org.uk/news/view/455

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