Taken from a Govt. web site - not yet used in any
way
Builders need incentives to develop 'brown field' sites
A new report claims house-builders need more incentives if they are to reduce
green belt development to half of new building as the government wishes.
Almost 80% of house-builders would not be prepared to invest in buying polluted
land land for future development unless it had already been decontaminated,
according to a survey.
Some 70% of the builders asked, said the decision whether or not to buy
former industrial sites depended on how much of a clean-up would be needed,
even if the costs could be reflected in the purchase price.
The report, from the Town and Country Planning Association, calls for more
planning flexibility, better insurance, and tax credits.
Its author, Charlie Fulford, said the report indicates builders are not
the "bad guys".
"Given sufficient financial and legal certainty, they will tackle challenging
derelict sites.
"Measures that will enhance their confidence about building on derelict
and contaminated land must be taken seriously by government".
Builders have argued that there will always be demand for houses in the
countryside and many towns in the south of England do not have enough available
"brown field" land.
The government has pledged to build 4.4 million new homes by 2016 to meet
rising demand because of demographic shifts.
On Sunday the government was urged to "re-think" its proposals.
Sir Crispin Tickell, an environmentalist and ex-diplomat, said the methods
used to arrive at the number of homes needed were "dangerous"
and the Government Panel on Sustainable Development he was convening was
"sceptical" about the figures.
Government shifting position
Mr Prescott recently announced he wanted to move away from the "predict
and provide" model for solving housing problems.
A government report predicted that 4.4 million new homes - 630,000 in London
alone - would be needed by 2016 to cope with demographic changes.
Opposition and environmental groups have questioned the findings of the
report, however.
An all-party group of MPs led by former Tory Cabinet Minister Tom King is
keeping up the pressure on the Government to protect the countryside and
is due to have a second meeting in the Commons on March 5.
More than 100 Labour MPs have now signed an a Commons motion warning of
the need to protect the countryside.
Earlier, the government reacted to the move by allowing Dorset County Council
to reduce its plans for new housing by 1,000 homes and endorsing a new Green
Belt in County Durham, 80 times the size of Hyde Park.
Mr Prescott said: "We now have more land under green belt protection
than we have ever had in our history."
Conservation groups opposed to plans for millions of new homes in the British
countryside are meeting in London.
They fear the countryside is being threatened by a wave of new housebuilding
to meet demand for 4.4 million new homes in the next century.
Delegates will be told that housing on greenfield sites is taking over from
road-building as the biggest campaigning issue in rural areas.
They will hear calls for greater use to be made of derelict sites in towns
and cities.
Hampshire County Council is grappling with a huge projected demand for new
houses.
One of their proposed solutions is to build a vast new town near Micheldever,
midway between Winchester and Basingstoke.
Most locals are appalled by the idea.
"Most people who live round here do so because it's a rural area. If
they wanted to live in a town they would go and live in a town," said
one.
Dr Simon Festing of Friends of the Earth, who is organising the event with
the Alliance Against Roadbuilding Menace (Alarm UK), believes co-ordination
is the key to success.
"What we want to do is to bring people together so instead of acting
on their own local patch, they are co-ordinating into an effective fighting
force," he said.
Tony Burton, Assistant Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural
England, will tell the workshop that cars and exhaust fumes can be cut by
at least a third by building homes in towns and cities.
"By making better use of run-down urban land and buildings and improving
the quality of urban life, we can reduce traffic and the threat from global
warming as well as protect the countryside and regenerate our towns,"
he said.
The Planning Minister Richard Caborn is expected to announce details on
household growth before the summer.
He has already indicated the government is looking at a range of ideas to
discourage urban sprawl, including taxes on greenfield development to pay
for clearing up derelict inner city sites for low-cost starter homes.
Last December West Sussex County Council became the first local authority
to revolt against the home building plans when it was announced it would
have to increase by nearly a third the number of new homes built within
its borders by 2011.
It is now seeking a judicial review in what could be a landmark case.
|
a digger arrived
on the Willows and destroyed more than ten years of nature's work in a few
short hours! What ever happens to the
site now, irrevocable damage has been done.