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DOUBLE HOUSING BLOW TO PRESCOTT

03 Apr 1998

• Hertfordshire county council this morning voted to delay plans for the 10,000 houses to the West of Stevenage, and have asked Mr Prescott to intervene.
• Lewes District council today won a High Court challenge against his decision last autumn to allow over 100 houses on greenfield land near Peacehaven. This is the first time that the Government has faced - and lost - a High Court challenge to their greenfield housing policy.

Both decisions will be embarrass Mr Prescott, coming soon after his announcement this February of a move away from the “simplistic predict and provide approach in housing”towards “increased flexibility” [ ].

Simon Festing, Housing Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:
“Mr Prescott must be highly embarrassed by having two key housing decision thrown back in his face. He cannot ride roughshod over the opinions of ordinary people by allowing so much greenfield development. He must act now to lower house-building targets in the hard pressed South of England, or the impending destruction of the countryside will haunt him and the Labour Government all the way to the next General Election.”

Mr Prescott had previously justified support for the West of Stevenage expansion plans on the basis that they were promoted by Hertfordshire County Council. In fact these plans were based on a high house-building target imposed by the Government. At a last minute emergency meeting today, shortly before the plans were due to be adopted, the Council resolved to ask the Secretary of State to reduce their housing target, so “removing the need for large scale greenfield development”.

At Peacehaven, Mr Prescott gave the go-ahead for greenfield housing last autumn against the wishes of the local Council. Over two hundred local people had pledged to take direct action against the development, including the local mayor. The court ruled today that the decision undermined the plans of the local Council, and was therefore premature.

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