31 March 2008
Paradise lost? It’s time to say NO!
Government orders to build 12,400 houses across Salisbury and South Wiltshire’s green and pleasant land have been described by Salisbury MP Robert Key as ‘the greatest man-made disaster in our history’ and ‘the final chapter in Prescott’s revenge’.
Speaking to the AGM of Salisbury Conservative Association on Friday 28th March, Robert Key said most people have not woken up to what is about to engulf them.
“The Council has been ordered by Whitehall to write a new Doomsday Book of what we’ve got to plunder. I do not blame the officers. They have been beavering away on climate change, biodiversity, agriculture, the local economy, pollution, conservation, transport, floods, and waste – all the things we care about. Now the great housing bombshell has cast a shadow over the future of our green and pleasant land.
“We are not saying there should be no development. Of course not. It is common sense that new housing should develop organically, in sustainable communities – just what we have been doing successfully for many years.
Robert Key said, “14,000 new jobs and up to 16,000 new houses are going to be bulldozed through. This time last year the local elections were hi-jacked by emotional appeals to ‘stop Bourne Hill’, ‘save the secret garden’ and ‘spare Salisbury’s green heart’. The same people, now Councillors, have rolled over and are colluding in plans to cover the County in concrete. It’s time the tail stopped wagging the dog. This rump of just 19 LibDem Councillors are controlling 55 District Councillors. I simply do not believe they should get away with this community vandalism. We are talking about changing the face of the place we live, love and work in.
“When the pathetically short Council ‘consultation’ ends, the Secretary of State will consider changes and may consult for twelve weeks more. The phone may be off the hook in Salisbury – but not in Parliament.
“I invite every disillusioned Councillor, every Parish Council, every local group or club and every angry citizen to send me their answer and I will be their voice in Parliament. We must fight this lethal planning nightmare town by town, village by village, field by field and hedgerow by hedgerow until common sense prevails.”
Letter to all Parish Clerks
Core Strategy Preferred Options – Housing
Over many years our Planning Authority, Salisbury District Council, has sanctioned housing development across the district, according to Government policy but almost always in response to need, organically and with the aim of ensuring communities are sustainable.
Government orders to build 12,400 houses across Salisbury District have, quite rightly, been greeted with astonishment and anger.
Salisbury District Council is obliged by law to consult for a period of six weeks. Of course, we all know this is totally inadequate. However, following that consultation and assuming there will be amendments to the proposals, the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government may consult for a further 12 weeks. She has said that she does not expect to announce her final decision until the autumn.
This means that I will have the opportunity to represent your views direct to Ministers over the spring and early summer. Please do not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity this gives your Council to make a more considered response to these most damaging proposals.
I enclose a copy of the press notice I issued on 31st March 2008.
With best wishes
Robert Key
02 April 2008 |
