East of England Plan decision bizarre

Anne Main has reacted to the news that the East of England Regional Assembly is to review the East of England Plan and extend it to 2031.

Anne Main, MP for St Albans, has reacted to the news that the East of England Regional Assembly is to review the East of England Plan and extend it to 2031.

The current plan, published in May, was intended to provide a structure for the development of the area between 2001 and 2021, but the plan will now be the subject of a three year review, and a new final plan will be published in 2011 to cover the period until 2031.

Anne said:

"Frankly, this decision seems bizarre. I do not understand how anyone can think that this is providing an effective development strategy for our area when the development plan is published seven years after it was due to begin, and then made redundant within six months. Even stranger is the announcement that the Government's National Housing and Planning Advice Unit suggested that the East of England 'tests' a range of between 30,900 and 39,200 homes a year - whatever that means.

I challenged the Housing Minister about the decision, and the concept of 'testing', in Select Committee yesterday and she knew nothing about the decision, or the suggestion that our area might be used as a test case for a higher figure of new homes. I find this very worrying, and she is obviously not on top of her brief.

Producing these plans costs a considerable amount of money, and it will be the taxpayer who foots the bill. We cannot keep piling houses into our area at the expense of the environment.""