Protesters rally to save Green Belt (From Bournemouth Echo)

Protesters rally to save Green Belt

5:51am Monday 15th September 2008 in

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SAVE Dorset's Green Belt.

That was the message to the Government from protesters at a rally held in Bournemouth Square yesterday against plans to build thousands of new homes across the Dorset countryside.

The rally organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and supported by Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, Purbeck, East Dorset and Dorset County councils, was attended by around 200 people.

Protesters from places earmarked for housing including Wimborne, Corfe Mullen North Bournemouth, Lytchett Matravers and Upton, waved placards urging "Keep Corfe Mullen Green", "Veto the new town" and "Save Beautiful Bournemouth".

Speakers Conservative MP for Christchurch Christopher Chope, Lib-Dem MP for Mid Dorset and Poole North Annette Brooke, Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood and Bournemouth Borough Council leader Cllr Stephen Macloughlin were greeted with claps and cheers from the crowd as they urged people to fight the plans.

Cllr Stephen Macloughlin said Bournemouth needs "significantly less" homes than the Government says as they are not using the latest population projection figures.

He added: "In Bournemouth we don't need to build in the Green Belt. We don't need 1,500 homes in Muscliff because Hazel Blears got the figures wrong."

MP Tobias Ellwood said the money for the extra infrastructure needed if all the homes were built was "not there".

He said: "Where is the money for the infrastructure - for the extra schools, hospitals, and the extra problems we will have with sewage systems? And it will change the character of our area for good. We need to send the message - please think again."

MP Christopher Chope, said that views of the people of West Parley had not been listened to by the Regional Assembly in Exeter adding: "We're going to take this fight on your behalf to Westminster."

Angela Pooley, of Friends of the Earth East Dorset, said: "There are areas of the country that desperately need investment in housing and regeneration. That is where the Government should be concentrating. The Green Belt in Bournemouth is very precious to people's quality of life and to lose that is not acceptable."

MP Annette Brooke told the crowd it was vital to take action before "the Green Belt is gone forever".

She said building large numbers of homes would add to existing problems of congestion and affect wildlife, adding: "Will we end up with a large city from Wareham to Christchurch?"

A couple of BNP supporters spotted handing out leaflets at the back of the crowd were quietly asked to leave by organisers.