Home > Press releases > 1999
08 Oct 1999
Almost 200,000 extra homes could be built on greenfield sites in the
South East over the next 16 years, if Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott
forces local councils to accept his Inspectors' recommendations [1].
This represents two new cities the size of Southampton.
Councils could be forced to designate Green Belt land, Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty and even major wildlife sites for housing if the plan
goes ahead. This could become an electoral nightmare for the Labour
Government [2].
Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth's Housing Campaigner, said:
“If John Prescott forces councils to plan for over one million
new homes, almost 200,000 more will have to be built in the countryside.
This will wreck some of Britain's most beautiful areas, generate huge
amounts of traffic and cause more congestion and pollution, in an already
overcrowded area. It will provoke huge opposition from suburban communities
in marginal constituencies. This could become an electoral nightmare
for Labour. ”
SERPLAN had recommended that councils should initially plan to build
between 892,000 and 914,000 new homes in this period. John Prescott's
Inspectors say this should be increased to 1,098,500. SERPLAN warned
of serious environmental consequences of providing more than 900,000
new homes [3].
NOTE FOR EDITORS
[1] The Panel Report of the Public Examination
into the SERPLAN draft regional planning guidance for the South East,
published today, has recommended that councils in the region outside
London should plan for 1,098,500 new homes to be built in the region
by 2016. The Panel says only 50 per cent of these need be built in existing
towns and cities. This means an extra 200,000 homes are likely to be
built on greenfield sites (see table below).
| South East (not London) 1996-2016 | SERPLAN recommendation | Inspectors'recommendation |
| Total new homes | 892,000 - 914,000 | 1,098,500 |
| Brownfield target | 60% | 50% |
| Homes on brownfield sites | 535,200 - 548,400 | 549,250 |
| Remainder to be built on greenfield sites | 356,800 - 365,600 | 549,250 |
As can be seen, 183,650-192,450 more new homes will have to be built
on greenfield sites if the Inspectors' recommendation is accepted, than
in SERPLAN's original plan.By comparison, Southampton has only about
90,000 homes.
[2] 19 of Labour's 100 most marginal seats are
in the South East outside London,many in areas likely to be at risk
of massive greenfield development.
[3] SERPLAN has said that building more than
900,000 new dwellings would 'result in significant and widespread
environmental impacts'. They wanted to plan for only 892-914,000.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
