Homes target is dismissed as ‘nonsense’ (From Bournemouth Echo)

Homes target is dismissed as ‘nonsense’

10:30am Tuesday 21st October 2008 in Search By Harry Walton

A PRESSURE group claims that the scale of housing development in Dorset must be reconsidered, especially in the light of the current economic climate.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said targets to build a total of 66,200 new homes in Dorset by 2026 were unrealistic before the economic downturn and were now ‘a nonsense’.

Dorset CPRE chairman Howard Thomas said: “We are deeply concerned at the increased scale of development.

“This simply cannot be accommodated without encroaching into protected landscapes or other unsuitable locations such as flood plains.”

They will submit their response to a consultation on proposed changes to regional strategy this week in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Government to reduce the level of housing proposed for Dorset and the South West region.

Mr Thomas said the CPRE was extremely worried because those proposed housing figures were now being expressed as a minimum. He added: “We believe it is essential that this approach is abandoned. It risks undermining the urban focus of the strategy, which we support, by allowing cherry-picking of more easily developed and more profitable rural and greenfield sites.”

CPRE want the Government to reduce proposals which seek to build 18,100 new homes in the Weymouth and Dorchester area and 48,100 new homes in the Bournemouth and Poole area by 2026.

Mr Thomas said: “There is no evidence that building on this scale would make housing more affordable for first-time buyers and the lack of infrastructure, such as public transport and hospitals, simply will not support expansion on this level.”

Dorset County Council agreed with the CPRE that the Govern-ment’s house building proposals were ‘totally unacceptable’.

A spokesman said there was no justification for such numbers and particularly condemned plans to build additional houses on the greenbelt in areas such as Lytchett Minster as ‘undeliverable’.

The county council has now agreed with colleagues at Poole and Bournemouth to follow Bournemouth Borough Council deputy leader John Beesley’s proposal ‘that all the Dorset authorities collectively seek a barrister’s opinion about the likely success of an application for judicial review of the Secretary of State’s proposals.’