Today's most viewed
| LOCAL NEWS | | | | OTHER SPORT |  | |
|
|
|
Beauty spots under threat from housing
NEW homes will have to be built on Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Dorset for recommended Government targets to be met, say campaigners.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is lobbying MPs to prioritise urban regeneration and reduce the number of new homes planned for the region.
Chairman of CPRE Dorset, Howard Thomas is opposed to recommended increases of 13,000 new homes in Weymouth and Dorchester and 5,000 in West Dorset.
He said: "The small market town of Dorchester and the pleasant holiday resort of Weymouth are being turned into an urban nightmare with the planned increases.
"This level of new build simply cannot be accommodated without encroaching on the area of outstanding natural beauty which we must fight to protect. If we don't make ourselves heard now it will be too late."
The CPRE argues that there is not enough brownfield land - land which has already been developed - available to meet the 28,000 homes currently recommended. The group is campaigning for support from the public to join them in their efforts to pressurise the government before it finalises its Regional Spatial Strategy.
The charity has also commissioned research which argues there is no evidence that increased building will result in price reductions but could cause environmental damage.
MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset.
"I think it's possible to do that and respect areas of outstanding natural beauty and proceed with building.
"That is vital if we are to build the affordable housing that our communities need to allow families to live in the area and make sure that schools and other facilities remain open."
CPRE is also concerned that under 25 per cent of new homes provided in the South West are affordable.
Weymouth and Portland housing spokesman Councillor Mike Goodman said the area had the highest percentage of affordable housing in Dorset.
He said: "You either say no to new homes and watch house prices go up and drive young people away or you do your best to try and accommodate them. Another option is to get people's income out of the bracket of the affordable housing market and we're working hard to attract the interest of major companies."
11:41am Thursday 15th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Dorset Boy, Wilds of Dorset on 1:28pm Thu 15 May 08
[bold]This level of new build simply cannot be accommodated without encroaching on the area of outstanding natural beauty which we must fight to protect. If we don't make ourselves heard now it will be too late."[/bold]
It's it bit late to start bleating now that Jugears has ripped up the west of Dorchester. Where was the CPRE then.
This level of new build simply cannot be accommodated without encroaching on the area of outstanding natural beauty which we must fight to protect. If we don't make ourselves heard now it will be too late."
It's it bit late to start bleating now that Jugears has ripped up the west of Dorchester. Where was the CPRE then.
Posted by: LEC, Dorchester on 2:46pm Thu 15 May 08
You're such a drama queen Dorset Boy..!!
[quote]CPRE is also concerned that under 25 per cent of new homes provided in the South West are affordable.[/quote]
That all depends on your definition of [italic]affordable[/italic], I suspect the amount of housing that's available to those on the national avg wage, is far, far less than 25%. What choice of accommodation does the regular Joe around here get for his/her £25k?
Will be interesting to see what they do about this. We need housing, fact, and it needs to be properly [italic]affordable[/italic], fact. But where to build, and at what cost..??
You're such a drama queen Dorset Boy..!!
CPRE is also concerned that under 25 per cent of new homes provided in the South West are affordable.
That all depends on your definition of
affordable, I suspect the amount of housing that's available to those on the national avg wage, is far, far less than 25%. What choice of accommodation does the regular Joe around here get for his/her £25k?
Will be interesting to see what they do about this. We need housing, fact, and it needs to be properly
affordable, fact. But where to build, and at what cost..??
Posted by: LEC, Dorchester on 2:48pm Thu 15 May 08
You're such a drama queen Dorset Boy..!!
[quote]CPRE is also concerned that under 25 per cent of new homes provided in the South West are affordable.[/quote]
That all depends on your definition of [italic]affordable[/italic], I suspect the amount of housing that's available to those on the national avg wage, is far, far less than 25%. What choice of accommodation does the regular Joe around here get for his/her £25k?
Will be interesting to see what they do about this. We need housing, fact, and it needs to be properly [italic]affordable[/italic], fact. But where to build, and at what cost..??
You're such a drama queen Dorset Boy..!!
CPRE is also concerned that under 25 per cent of new homes provided in the South West are affordable.
That all depends on your definition of
affordable, I suspect the amount of housing that's available to those on the national avg wage, is far, far less than 25%. What choice of accommodation does the regular Joe around here get for his/her £25k?
Will be interesting to see what they do about this. We need housing, fact, and it needs to be properly
affordable, fact. But where to build, and at what cost..??
Posted by: graham, weymouth on 2:54pm Thu 15 May 08
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
Posted by: graham, weymouth on 2:55pm Thu 15 May 08
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
Posted by: John Holmes, Weymouth on 2:57pm Thu 15 May 08
[quote][bold]graham[/bold] wrote:
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised. He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset." We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed [/quote] Not needed if you do not work!
graham wrote:
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised. He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset." We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
Not needed if you do not work!
Posted by: John, Weymouth on 7:56pm Thu 15 May 08
[quote][bold]graham[/bold] wrote:
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
[/quote] The next General Election can't come soon enough.
graham wrote:
So , MP for South Dorset Jim Knight believes the countryside will not need to be compromised.
He said: "It's important that we protect our precious environment and our quality of life in Dorset."
We must take it then that he is now totally opposed to ripping up our precious environment to build a new road, that really isn.t needed
The next General Election can't come soon enough.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
