Chris hands in petition against extra homes in Kingswood-
giving local people their say.
18 July 2008In his campaign against the number of extra homes being planned for South Gloucestershire, Chris has handed in hundreds of petition signatures from local residents calling on the government to reduce the number of new homes planned for South Gloucestershire.
Chris is pictured handing in the signatures to the leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Cllr John Calway.
Handing in the petition, Chris also sent a letter of thanks which appeared in the Evening Post:
I would like to thank local residents who have so far signed my petition to South Gloucestershire Council to call on the government to reduce the number of houses being imposed upon the local area. I have presented the hundreds of petition signatures recieved to the Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Cllr John Calway who was very grateful to receive them.
The proposals contained in the government's draft Report are for 30,800 new homes to be built in South Gloucestershire over 20 years – thousands more than South Gloucestershire Council’s recommended figure of 21,500. On the eastern fringes of the Kingswood constituency, over 8,000 new homes are being planned.
To press ahead with the volume and density of these numbers would be madness.
Firstly, the number of homes seem to have been plucked out of a hat, without any regard to the present economic circumstances and the downturn in the economy. The figures came out before the crisis in the housing market and it seems highly unlikely that this unrealistic demand for new homes will be met by developers. It is especially worrying for local residents of Kingswood, as a report I recently produced showed that the area has suffered the fourth worst slump in house prices nationally. To build more homes at this dramatic level will undoubtedly reduce the value of many surrounding homes, forcing many Kingswood families into further financial trouble.
Secondly, local services and facilities are already overstretched, particularly with the radical downgrading of Frenchay hospital. Added to this, the detail of the draft proposals show that the Government’s plans for this extra housing will not be matched with the necessary investment in additional local services and facilities, including schools. A lack of government support on public transport provision has also already led to dire levels of congestion on local roads and motorways. This extra development will just worsen existing problems with congestion. It is perverse that the Government wants to massively increase the population whilst at the same time cutting our services.
In addition, if the Government’s proposals are fully implemented, there will be a significant and tragic loss to our Green Belt land, as well as the loss of habitats of biodiversity interest and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty such as the Siston Conservation Area. New areas of woodland planting around Siston village and at Warmley Forest Park as part of the Forest of Avon would also be threatened. The point is a simple one- once you start expanding Kingswood eastwards into the Green Belt, when and where do you stop?
Above all, it is this government's regional planning process that is to blame for the 30,800 figure that South Gloucestershire is now being asked to accommodate. We should not have to put up with Whitehall’s Soviet-style top-down approach to housing provision. Any new housing should be decided by local communities and not by distant and unaccountable regional and Whitehall bureaucrats. This will ensure that we build the right homes in the right places.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Skidmore
Conservative Prospective MP
Kingswood
chris@chrisskidmore.com