Nicholas Soames, Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex, is a co-sponsor of a Bill introduced in the House of Commons yesterday by Francis Maude (Member of Parliament for Horsham) which requires there to be an audit of existing or planned infrastructure in areas of significant housing development.

Commenting on the Bill Nicholas Soames said; “I am delighted to support Francis Maude’s Bill which highlights one point of principle that I have been making in Mid Sussex in the last seven years, which is that the current local infrastructure is simply not good enough or substantial enough to support the kind of housing development the Government have imposed across the country and in particular in Mid Sussex.

“None of the public services are adequate to support such development and given the difficulties in the health service locally, particularly in respect of funding and together with the lack of adequate investment in rail, public transport, roads, water supply and schools I give this Bill my full support”.

Mr Soames said; “I am not against growth but it has to be sustainable development and Francis Maude’s Bill highlights very effectively what needs to be done.

The Bill is to be read a second time on Friday 14th July.

-ends-

Notes:

• Hansard – 19th October 2005 column 845

• Nicholas Soames met with the Housing Minister on the 19th July 2004 and on the 20th October 2004 and subsequently sent him and the Chief Executive of SEERA a copy of Mid Sussex District Council’s infrastructure audit report

• Further reading:-

o The State of the Nation 2005 – An assessment of the UK’s infrastructure by the Institution of Civil Engineers www.ice.org.uk
o The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Report – Housing: Building a Sustainable Future published 30th January 2005 click here.

o Nicholas Soames’s Early Day Motion:-

HOUSE BUILDING IN WEST SUSSEX 06.06.2005

Soames, Nicholas EDM 245

That this House expresses its grave concern at plans to impose massive building in West Sussex as part of the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan; welcomes the Environmental Audit Committee's report on housing, entitled, Housing: Building a Sustainable Future, which criticises the Government's plans, as not adequately considering the environmental impact of the proposed increase in house building; notes the extensive environmental impact such massive house building would have on the local area; shares the Committee's concern at the lack of an adequate evidence base for the Government's plans which fail to refer to environmental protection, which do not make adequate efforts towards sustainability, and which undermine the Government's own policy on sustainable development; calls on the Government to amend its plans to take into account the environmental impact of such development and to agree to further research as recommended by the Committee; further notes that the current proposals will lead to unacceptable overdevelopment in Mid Sussex and other parts of the South East and will also create further traffic congestion, water shortages, strain on the health service, and overcrowding on trains and other public transport and place undue pressure on all local services in an area already suffering from a substantial infrastructure deficit; condemns the Government for pressing ahead with this plan, even though West Sussex County Council has criticised the proposals; and calls on the Government not to take forward these misconceived and unsustainable plans, which will be harmful to the quality of life in West Sussex.