RSS REVIEW - CHANCE TO PUT LOCAL NEED FIRST

10.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 26th Sep 2009

The South West "Regional Spatial Strategy" is to be reviewed

Steve Gilbert, the prospective MP for St Austell & Newquay, has said that the reassessment of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West is "good news" for St Austell & Newquay and that it may help stop overdevelopment of the area.

Under the current South West Regional Spatial Strategy the Government wants Cornwall to accept another 70,000 houses by 2026 - the equivalent of building another seven new St Austell's or 23 new towns the size of St Blazey.

Yesterday the Government announced it will carry out another appraisal of whether the proposals are the most sustainable way forward for the region.

Steve Gilbert said: "Cornwall doesn't want or need another 70,000 homes. Across the area there are examples of planning applications coming forward for major developments that are unwanted and unneeded but are being justified and promoted by the ridiculous numbers in the regional spatial strategy."

"These applications are motivated more by developers' greed than by the local community's need. In areas like ours, with high housing need and development pressure, the planning system has to be tamed to allow our local needs to be given a higher priority. Cornwall must be allowed to build what is necessary to meet local need, not what the Government tells us we must have."