Business Questions

Thursday 18th May 2006

Mr. Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex) (Con): The Leader of the House will, I am sure, have heard that I am to chair a big public meeting in East Grinstead tomorrow night, as part of the formal consultation on the Government’s wicked plan to impose excess further housing in the south-east of England. Does he agree that, by any stretch of the imagination, the scale of the developments is clearly in breach of the Government’s own benchmark for sustainability? Given the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth) yesterday in his urgent question on the water supply, and given the inadequacy of the roads and railways and the fact that public services in the area are extremely overstretched, will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that we in this House have a chance to debate the infrastructure’s inability to keep up with the Government’s plans for increased house building in the south of England, particularly in Mid-Sussex?

Mr. Straw (Leader of the House): Of course I had heard that the hon. Gentleman is to speak at the meeting tomorrow night. I am pleased to say that the news had even reached Blackburn, and I believe that train reservations are in hand. I noticed a flicker of a smile cross the hon. Gentleman’s lips as he described the plans as “wicked”. Let me say to him and to other Members-particularly Opposition Members-who represent rural and suburban constituencies in the south-east that nothing would please Environment Ministers more than if no plans were necessary to increase the number of available houses in the south-east. The truth is, however, that demand for housing in the south-east greatly exceeds supply. I wish that many of the hon. Gentleman’s constituents would recognise the attractions of the north-west, including my Blackburn constituency, and move there, but they are not going to. The choice for the Government, for him, for his local authority and for every other Member of the House is between allowing a dramatic and continuing increase in house prices to squeeze out the very people who need to live in those areas, and ensuring a sensible increase in housing so that prices decrease and those who live in those areas are able to stay there. That is the choice, and the debate is not helped by the use of extravagant adjectives. Every house in the country was new at one time. [column 1147]

Commenting on the response from the Leader of the House Nicholas Soames said; “This is not nearly a good enough answer. Everyone understands that there will be development in East Grinstead and elsewhere in Mid Sussex as a result of the enormous housing targets imposed on the county by the Government but the sheer scale of what is proposed and the impossibility of the current infrastructure to support development of this type across the whole of the South East is unacceptable to my constituents and will be a serious factor in destroying the local quality of life already under pressure from too much traffic etc.”

Mr Soames together with his West Sussex Parliamentary colleagues and Leaders of local councils will be meeting with the Minister for Housing and Planning, Yvette Cooper MP, on Thursday 25th May to discuss their concerns over the additional housing targets being imposed by the Government via the South East Plan.