Rural campaigners call for "greener" regional plan

Two rural campaign groups have joined forces to urge the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to make a key regional plan more environmentally-friendly.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the National Trust are fronting a petition which is calling for changes to the draft East of England plan. The Examination in Public of the new-look regional spatial strategy which has just finished.

The Trust and CPRE want the plan revised to reduce its impact on Green Belts, historic towns and villages, wildlife and woodlands. The two bodies have claimed that the plan "risks unsustainable amounts of development which will have long-term impacts on internationally important green spaces such as Hatfield Forest."

An ODPM spokesman said: "We need new homes for the next generation and our ageing and growing population, but we need to make sure they are environmentally sustainable too. If we don't increase homebuilding from historic lows then only a third of thirty-year-old couple will be able to afford a home of their own in 20 years time.

"Plans for new homes and jobs have strong environmental protections built in including priority for brownfield development and protection of the Green Belt. In addition, all new homes are now required to meet tough energy efficiency standards 40 per cent higher than four years ago".

He added: "The East of England is only 7.1 per cent urbanised and even building new homes at the highest rate recommended by the Barker review would mean using just 0.38 per cent of the total land area in the region."

In a related development, a wildlife group has warned that endangered species of bees, beetles, dragonflies and bugs are threatened by the government's growth area proposals in London and in the Thames Gateway.

According to Buglife (the Invertebrate Conservation Trust) many of the brownfield sites earmarked for new development are currently havens for wildlife.

Planning minister Yvette Cooper insisted: "We have the same high environmental safeguards for all planning cases - brownfield sites and green spaces."

She added: "We also think it is right to regenerate many of our derelict industrial sites to provide new jobs and homes for the future."

View the draft East of England Plan here.

View further information about the CPRE's campaign here.

Roger Milne

4 May 2006