Providing the right level and type of housing is one of the most important
challenges for the West Midlands.
CPRE believes we need to put much more emphasis into building the
affordable houses we need in rural areas rather than simply allocating
large targets across the region.
If we build at the right levels of housing we can provide homes for
the people who need them, concentrating mainly in our major urban
areas, but if we try to build too many we will come up against huge
environmental barriers. Building on green field land will only fuel
the number of people leaving our towns for the countryside and make
urban depredation and rural unaffordability worse.
Unfortunately Ministers have seemed unwilling to contemplate anything
but the highest levels of house building and are pressing that on
the Regional Assembly. CPRE believes this is a simplistic approach
and is lobbying the Regional Assembly to build at a sensible rate,
not simply relying on unreliable predictions of the future need for
housing.
Our hotspots map show how this
might impact on the countryside.
But it’s not just about numbers. We need to treat land as a
scarce and valuable resource and build at the right density, which
will vary from town to country.
We will also need to pay more attention to the design of housing,
ensuring it fits its surroundings, both natural and man made. Good
design should include building homes which are environmentally friendly
and ensuring existing homes perform to high environmental standards.
And, of course, we have to recognise that homes are part of our heritage
and be cautious about when and where to demolish them.
The Regional Spatial
Strategy review is examining housing and CPRE will be at the forefront
of this important debate.
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