Consider the SE Plan and the fate of gardeners

Sorry to introduce a political top into GC - but time is short before this becomes a reality. Public consultion on the South East Plan ends on the 23rd June. The East Plan has already gone through but is facing legal challenge.

In summary our lovely Mr Prescott set up non elected Regional Assemblies in the South, South East and East, their task under regional planning guidance to deliver a set number of houses to meet the shortfall in houses in the South East as a whole - including East Anglia and the South Midlands. This was then gazumped by another Gvt Directive called Sustainable Communities which added additional houses to the total target. Only 30% are supposed to be affordable.

All I am asking you all to take a look at the background and what is happening. I have no quarrel with affordable housing in the south east - I have a major problem with target housing numbers with no thought of the impact in terms of sustainability - for example water - being dumped on the South East towns and greenfield sites - much to the joy of developers who will make a fortune from the remaining 70%.

Nice little things like replacing low density housing with high density housing e.g 60 households per hectare.

There's a good few gardeners going to suffer as a result of this and as for green spaces and green belt in the these areas - reduced to the developers delight.

BTW the Gvt set up a code of sustainable building i.e. that they should have all the energy saving, producing technology as possible. They refuse to make this compulsory - and please note that 30% of current developement does not now meet the compulsory building regulations. As noted by the fifth report of the Govt Environmental Audit committe published in March 2006. When you get into the detail it frightening how this is being rushed through with little if any assessment of the impact on the UK as a whole

Up to December of last year, I had no idea that this was happening - now I have engaged and I hope some of you will too - even our scottish members :D

 

Thanks for bringing this up Fran.
As far as I'm concerned town cramming has reached its limit, I do not in anyway want to see the countryside covered in housing, but the towns can take no more.
I oftern wonder if all this additional housing is really needed, it just brings more people into an area.
There is so much talk these days of being "enviromentally friendly", there is no such thing as enviromentally friendly housing or industry, it all a load of codswallop.
Some people are getting very rich in this property boom and its not the house owner, its the developer, house prices need to settle at a sensable level.

[ 09. June 2006, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: pete ]

 

I agree with all that.
And what on earth is the point of asking people to save water in areas where such a lot of new building is proposed?

 

Spot on Liz and Pete - especially as it will not be compulsory for developers to build homes with reuse of water, and water catchment so that the increase uptake of a limited resource is nil. Well it migh cost them money, and the government likes to keep on the right side of them.

Its why they don't do anything about those 30% that don't even comply with the current building regulations.

 

Down here we have severe traffic problems - the M27 and A32 from Gosport are basically car parks twice a day. Nothing is being done to ease these problems. Thousands of houses are being and are to be built around here, putting thousands of extra cars on the roads (public transport is a total write-off here, but the Government won't cough up the money to sort the problems.) The youngsters haven't got a hope in hell's chance of getting onto the property ladder. Wonderful Prescott is putting pressure on everwhere..... but he has his head in Cookoo-land.... Transoprt isn't the only problem - our PCT is failing, the hospitals just simply can't cope, the nearest NHS dentist with places is over 50 miles away.... so I'm afraid water isn't the only problem.... I often wonder if there is a politician whoe is really and truly in touch with reality.....

 

We used to have a local tip to take household rubbish.
This is now a recycling centre, run by the Kent County Council.
It takes about 30 minutes of sitting in a queue with your car engine running in order to "recycle" your rubbish.
How green can all those exhaust fumes be?

 

You know I heard an interesting tale. Apparantly the Japanese tried to coerce their people out of their cars, much the same as this government is trying. It didn't work, so now they are concentrating on the cars themselves.

It will not be so very long before we get into our cars, programme where we want to go - and then just sit back as the petrolless engine takes us there. We already got cars that can do a lot of the driving, and we got hybrid cars that take little fuel.

Think of it, no tail gaters, no idiots who pull out without indication, no middle lane hoggers - and all that stress gone. Nirvana