The
numbers of houses we build are important. Because the population
is increasing and households are on average getting smaller there
is a genuine need for new housing. The Government claims we need
3 million homes nationally by 2020 but we believe their assessment,
which is based on uncertain premises, could well be too high. The
growth in the number of housholds depends on a wide range of economic,
social and demographic factors which cannot be accurately predicted
over a fifteen to twenty year period. We believe it is sensible
to plan for new dwellings we know we will need rather than ones
we might need.
The danger of allocating too much housing through the planning process
is that local authorities are forced to release green field land
for housing or allow building on other environmentally undesirable
sites, such as urban open space or back gardens. Once such housing
is allocated the market will tend to favour those sites over urban
regeneration projects.
This will not only damage the environment, it will increase commuting
and congestion and undermine urban regeneration, leading to an increase
in social polarisation, with rising depivation in urban areas and
loss of countryside in rural areas.
There is little evidence that building more dwellings will make
housing more affordable given the strength of demand-side factors,
such as the buy-to-let market and the major banks’ lending
policies. Our report ‘Planning
for Housing Affordability’ explains this in more details.
The Regional Spatial Strategy review is examining housing and the
Regional Assembly proposals submitted to the Government propose
providing 365,600 extra dwellings in the next twenty years. West
Midlands CPRE believes a figure of about 285,000 would strike an
appropriate balance between meeting genunine need and other important
objectives such as urban regeneration and environmental protection.
The Government has been asking for 380,000 dwellings but in January
2008 wrote to the Assembly saying it wanted the West Midlands to
provide between 408,000 and 460,000 dwellings over 20 years, in
line with advice from the recently set-up National Housing and Planning
Advice Unit. We believe that development on this scale would be
disastrous for the region, both in terms of urban regeneration and
protecting the countryside.
We also do not believe the current proposed Regional Policies would
be strong enough to ensure housing was built first on previously
developed land or to counter the current admitted over-provision
of housing in the South and East of our region.
The impact of this new housing on the region would vary. Some would
be in our major urban areas, provided the builders continue to support
those projects. However the majority of new dwellings would be built
outside these areas, further weakening the urban regeneration effort.
There could be large-scale urban extensions to places like Coventry
and Worcester and other towns across the region would have to release
land around their periphery. The West Midlands Green Belt would
be seriously eroded in a number of areas.
The Government is also promoting additional ‘ecotowns’.
CPRE supports improvements to building design but there is a danger
that this will become a device for the Government to impose even
more housing on the region. However, we argue that the way to counter
climate change emissions is through a widespread improvement in
house building standards rather than focus on a few new towns in
the heart of the countryside.
Click
Here to see our Press Release dated 17th January 2008
Click
Here to see our Press Release dated 21st September 2007
16.02.08
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