The penny drops1 June 2005
This summer the heat is rising under plans for one million plus new houses in England - part of John Prescott's controversial Sustainable Communities Plan.
A whopping £8 billion is needed just to pay for the kind of facilities which any self-respecting 'sustainable community' should expect to have on its doorstep - decent public transport, open space, healthcare, libraries and so on.
So says research for the Regional Assemblies for the South East and East of England. Developers are unlikely to pay for this, so Ministers will have to stump up to keep their housing plans on track. And there are other rocks in the road.
First, there is a growing sense that central Government policy is adding to problems not easing them.
The South East Regional Assembly now says the Government's aviation white paper is 'inherently unsustainable' and out of step with other policy on climate, transport and energy. Aviation and airport expansion is also likely to increase pressure for more housing.
Second - and with people already struggling to come to terms with the scale and pace of growth proposed in the Sustainable Communities Plan - John Prescott and Gordon Brown seem bent on forcing even more housing onto unsuspecting communities and local councils.
This is because Ministers are pushing to change the planning system to include the controversial findings of the Treasury's review of housing supply by former CBI economist, Kate Barker.
Ms. Barker wants make changes to the way housing gets planning approval. Instead of councils being able to weigh up the case for and against, land will automatically be released for housing development based on price rises in the local area.
Under the system there would, in effect, be no upper limit on the amount of house building which could be built in any area. Under this system, the market rules as local democracy, public involvement in planning and our environment go to the dogs.
The million or so houses planned for south and east England in the Sustainable Communities Plan are just the tip of the iceberg. Talking of climate change Mr. Blair...
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