Local Green Belt protest outside Parliament

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The Government has supported proposals to build 48,100 new homes in the Poole/Bournemouth area as part of the South West Regional Spatial Strategy.

Annette Brooke has been campaigning hard against building on the Green Belt. She has spoken in four parliamentary debates on this issue, presented two parliamentary petitions in the House of Commons, sponsored an Early Day Motion calling for the South West Regional Spatial Strategy to be scrapped and asked Gordon Brown about this directly at Prime Ministers Questions.

The Examination in Public's recommendations for the area were upheld by the Government and these include an extra 2750 homes in the Lytchett Minster area and 700 homes in Corfe Mullen. Both of these developments would be in the current green belt.

The public consultation on the South West RSS attracted an unprecedented number of representation - around 35,000 -mostly objecting to the overall levels of housing growth and to proposals for urban extensions at or near their own locality.

However, despite huge opposition the Government has prolonged its attack on the Green Belt by ordering a Further Sustainability Appraisal of the unpopular Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the South West

Annette with Cllr Drane at the site of the proposed develoopment near Lytchett Minster

The Government had expected to issue the final version of the South West RSS at the end of June 2009. In May however, the High Court issued a judgment that the Sustainability Appraisal of the East of England RSS had failed to test reasonable alternatives to two of its proposals. In the light of this judgment it has been decided to carry out a new Sustainability Appraisal in the South West, which will take until early in the New Year.

"This is a terrible decision from a dying Government, these plans should be scrapped not extended and I shall be continuing the fight against them," said Annette. "I am very conscious that we need more affordable housing for local young people but I do not think that these large scale developments will provide for these vital needs. I believe that much smaller scale developments in particular communities are needed and should be planned in conjunction with individual communities."