1. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is expected to issue her long awaited Proposed Changes to the regional spatial strategy for the South East on Thursday 17 July. These recommendations follow the independent Panel Report published last August. The South East Plan [1] sets out how the region will develop over the next 20 years. It covers housing, transport, leisure and the economy.

2. The Campaign to Protect Rural England [2] will be looking for strong evidence that the Plan will deliver better controls over urban pressures on the countryside in the South East. Ensuring a strong focus on meeting local needs should also be a priority for the Secretary of State.

3. CPRE South East Director Edward Dawson commented: ‘There are many good policies in the Plan that focus on ensuring a sustainable future for the region. However they are undermined by other policies, which place a high emphasis on economic growth. The countryside and the wider environment risk being sidelined as a result. The Proposed Changes must address the housing shortage in the South East, but it must do so in a sustainable fashion that protects valuable areas of countryside, including the internationally important Thames Basin Heath.’ 

4. CPRE believes there is a danger that the target for the number of new homes in the region goes up to 36,000 per annum compared to less than 29,000 in the draft Plan. This level of development is environmentally unsustainable. Such proposals could put at risk areas of Green Belt and further stretch already limited water resources and other infrastructure including transport systems.

5. CPRE supports the need for more affordable housing in many parts of the South East, especially the rural areas, but far from meeting needs, much of the new housing proposed will add market housing which is out of the reach of local people [3]. Whether proposing increases to levels of new housing in the region are actually deliverable in light of the current economic climate and daily announcements from developers regarding job cuts should also be considered.

6. Pressure for new housing in the South East is more intense than in any other region of the country. This poses a serious challenge to the pattern of settlements, and the character of its countryside.  The independent Panel of Inspectors [4] who publicly examined the draft Plan in winter 2006/07 attached importance to sustainable development in the South East, and to the quality of life of its inhabitants. This was very much welcomed by CPRE and so it will be looking for this to be reflected in the Proposed Changes.

7. Edward Dawson concluded: ‘CPRE applauded the efforts and scale of work undertaken by the independent Panel at the Examination in Public, and the open manner in which they did their work. The Government must see sense and adopt their conclusions regarding the need to consider quality of life of those living in the South East.’

Note to Editors

1. The South East Plan is a replacement of Regional Planning Guidance 9 (RPG9 - the current Regional Spatial Strategy for the South East) to cover the period to 2026. It covers Kent, East and West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

The future of the South East will be re-opened by the Proposed Changes, which are subject to 12-weeks of public consultation.  The initial draft Plan was subject to consultation by the Regional Assembly in 2005 and then submitted to be examined by an independent Panel.  The Plan remains a draft and contains all the main elements, including housing numbers distributed to all districts to 2026. The final Plan is expected to be approved in spring 2009. The suite of documents can be viewed on the Regional Assembly website at www.southeast-ra.gov.uk.

2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

3. Housing in the South East region is amongst the least affordable in the country. It includes towns and cities with large pockets of deprivation requiring regeneration, with substantial ‘brownfield’ sites for house building.  The Government has announced plans to fund at least 70,000 new affordable homes a year by 2010-11, with around 25,000 of these being for affordable home ownership.  Ministers now want to see more than 240,000 new homes being built each year by 2016.

4. The Examination in Public was a kind of public inquiry held before an independent Panel, appointed by the Government.  The Panel’s Report provided the most comprehensive independent assessment of the state of the South East and the spatial planning options for the next 20 years.

Useful links

EIP Panel website: www.eipsoutheast.co.uk

South East Plan: www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/southeastplan/index.html