Westminster Hall Debate: Regional Spatial Strategy (South West)

Speech by Annette Brooke MP on Tue 7th Oct 2008

Annette Brooke (Mid-Dorset and North Poole) (LD): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Northavon (Steve Webb), who exposed most eloquently the very many flaws in the process that has brought us to this point. The top-down, undemocratic nature of those flaws are crucial problems. The matter is the most frequently raised issue in my constituency since the report of the examination in public, and even more since the end of July. I have been personally involved throughout the process, but other MPs were not even allowed to speak at the examination in public.

I wish to pick up the point about affordable houses, for which there is a huge need in my constituency. If I believed that the proposals addressed that need, I would support them. However, given the environmental and other constraints in my constituency, I do not believe that we can build our way out of the crisis. The approach to providing the housing that we need should involve local communities providing houses to agreed targets, very locally and in suitable locations, and it must be backed with more Government money. When faced with a large amount of heathland, as is the case in Purbeck in my constituency, there are so many constraints that it is necessary to have extra Government support-not Government dictation-to meet our needs.

There are two sites proposed for my constituency, one of which popped up after the examination in public. It is proposed that there should be 2,750 homes in the green belt. The proposal is opposed by every council at whatever level, and was made by one developer. Was the hearing balanced, I ask myself? Everybody is against the proposal. It will shatter the green belt, and we will have just one urban sprawl. By the end of the process, if it is not halted, I imagine that there will be wall-to-wall housing from Wareham to Christchurch.

I welcome the common ground that is being found today among all parties and from all parts of the region. There is good reason for the Minister to listen, and I accept the hon. Gentleman's point.

The overall number of houses proposed is going up, up, up, and it is debatable. The growth premise of the regional spatial strategy must surely be reviewed in light of what is happening. I appreciate that it is a 20-year prediction, but the predicted growth rate of 3.2 per cent. appears to be totally out of line. I endorse the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Northavon that there is uncertainty about exactly what the report of the examination in public says. It certainly seems to me that it implies that there is now no necessity to look for brown field sites first. We must have clarification on that point today.

I endorse my hon. Friend's point about infrastructure. The change that the Secretary of State has brought to my area would remove any infrastructure requirements. In some ways, there is some practicality about that because, for example, the roads cannot be greatly improved without their impinging on the heathland. However, given the congestion during the tourism season, the provision of all the proposed extra housing without any extra roads is absolutely impossible to comprehend.

Purbeck's target has been increased during the process, from what the local councils agreed, by 145 per cent. Purbeck is one of the most constrained areas for development in the country, so it is an impossible proposal. In addition to the Purbeck housing, there are proposals with which some local councils originally agreed, but not at local community level, such as those for 700 new homes in Corfe Mullen, and a further 1,000 in east Dorset, at Wimborne and Colehill, which are located in beautiful green belt areas. I think that everyone believes that if the proposals go ahead they will represent the destruction of beautiful areas for ever. We do not have faith in the process by which we have reached this point. I urgently ask the Minister to reconsider, and to listen to the many representations that are being made. Let us get back to making our decisions at local community level.