news story

28th September 2009

MP Welcomes 'Temporary U-Turn' over Green Belt Housing Plans

Northavon MP and countryside campaigner Steve Webb has welcomed a Government decision to look again at controversial plans for large-scale house-building in the South Gloucestershire Green Belt.

The threat to the Green Belt comes from the proposed 'Regional Spatial Strategy' for the South West, a document that sets out plans for house-building in the region for the period from 2006-2026. The current draft of the plan proposed over 32,000 houses to be built in South Gloucestershire, more than 10,000 more than local people believe is needed to meet local need.

Following a legal challenge to a similar document for the East of England, the Government has now announced that it will be setting up a new 'sustainability appraisal' for the South West to think again about whether the approach to identifying housing sites is the best way forward. This review is expected to be completed in the New Year.

Commenting, Steve Webb MP said:

"At long last, the Government has agreed to look again at whether the planned location for all these houses is really sustainable. We have been arguing for years that these plans risk destroying the valuable countryside which we all value so much. It is a shame that it took legal action for the Government to finally start listening.

"It is therefore vital that this further review is not simply a whitewash but does look properly at the way these tens of thousands of houses could have a devastating effect on the qualify of life in our area".