The Campaign to Protect Rural England [1] (CPRE) has welcomed much of the recently published regional strategy to guide development in the North West [2].

The Plan sets out where and how much new development there should be for housing, transport, energy, waste, retail and jobs. But CPRE is worried that the Government’s open-ended approach to house-building may derail its good intentions [3].

CPRE’s Regional Policy Officer, Andy Yuille, said:

‘It’s great to see strong policies on tranquillity and landscape. These are the things that people value about our fantastic countryside. And we’re pleased that the Government has listened to the people of the region and pulled back from plans to re-focus development priorities on towns and cities in the M6 corridor. This will promote the regeneration of Manchester and Liverpool and protect the character and heritage of historic cities like Chester and Lancaster. It shows the importance of respecting local knowledge and experience. A number of other policies have also been strengthened to improve the outcomes for the environment and communities’ quality of life.’

However, the Government has taken the cap off the number of houses that can be built in each district over the next 15 years, and removed the policy on housing density. With no limits on development and no policy on using land for housing efficiently, it is hard to see how councils will be able to stick to these aims.

Andy Yuille commented:

‘How can we plan to provide water, electricity, schools and health care effectively if we don’t know how many homes we’re providing for? Particularly with the current state of the economy and housing market, we need a bit more certainty than that. There’s also a danger that developers will focus on easier greenfield sites and that urban areas in need of regeneration will have investment sucked away from them.

‘The challenge now will be to implement this strategy in a way that is genuinely sustainable and really adds to the quality of life of people in all communities in the North West.’

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. 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.

2. The Regional Spatial Strategy for the North West is available from www.4nw.org.uk

3. The RSS has gone through a lengthy period of consultation with regional stakeholders, with recommendations for significant changes made following an Examination in Public which ran from October 2006 through to February 2007. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government proposed a series of changes to the Plan, mainly based on these recommendations, but occasionally departing from them. These proposed changes were consulted on from 20 March 2008 and the final document incorporating the responses to this consultation was published on 30 September 2008.