Massive Hike In Housebuilding For The South East?

20.06.06

A Government-commissioned report published today (Tuesday) [1] puts forward options for increases in housebuilding up to 60 per cent above levels proposed in the South East Plan.

That would imply up to 340,000 extra homes in England’s most built-up region over the next 20 years, over and above the 580,000 already put forward for the South East. It would mean further loss of large areas of countryside, more climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, more road and rail congestion and further strain on the already-stretched water supply and sewerage systems.

CPRE’s [2] South East Regional Director Edward Dawson said: ‘A house building level of over 30,000 new homes per year would change the region for all time – and greatly for the worse. The capacity and the desire to do it just isn’t there.

‘The South East stands on a precipice. It can either go for all out growth, as is suggested by the consultants who wrote this report, or it can choose a more sustainable route.’

The South East Regional Assembly has also issued a strong protest. [3]

The new report considers options for building between 4,100 more homes a year and 17,100 over and above the 28,900 per year set out in the current draft of the South East Plan.

The consultants’ report, commissioned by Secretary of State Ruth Kelly’s Department for Communities and Local Government and the Government Office South East, comes at a critical time for the South East Plan, which will shape the region’s development for the next two decades.

A public consultation deadline ends on Friday this week. There will be an Examination in Public starting in November before a Panel of Inspectors. The South East Plan will be finalised in 2007, with Government effectively having the last word on its contents.

Edward Dawson said: ‘The Assembly carefully considered options for growth before submitting their draft plan to the Government and for public consideration. There really is a limit to the amount of development the South East should be expected to take.

‘The Government should look at the potential and resources across England as a whole, which should include making better use of the swathes of homes, buildings and derelict land that lie unused.’

Consultants Roger Tym & Partners were commissioned to examine options for additional housebuilding in the region ‘above and beyond those put forward in the South East Plan’, with input from senior civil servants from several departments.

The new options are based on two ‘go for growth’ approaches. In one there is no constraint on the growth in the number of households in the region. In the other, the number of new homes is dictated entirely by the rising number of jobs.

Edward Dawson said: ‘This just goes to show that protecting the environment in this crowded, highly pressurised region – which still retains large areas of beautiful countryside – is the critical part of the equation. The consultants’ report sets out the further massive damage which would be done by this additional growth in an already stressed South East.’

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