Petition presented in Commons to stop new Hampshire town

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 2nd Jul 2008

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne last night presented a petition in parliament from Botley and Boorley Green residents to stop a new town with 6,000 homes between Hedge End and Durley.

Mr Huhne said that the petition had been signed by 312 people who attended a recent meeting at Botley parish church to protest about the lack of Government consultation on the proposed strategic development area or alternatives.

The petition calls on Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to stop the development, consult properly and examine the alternatives.

Mr Huhne said it was ironic that the Government had just legislated to make the planning process even more dictatorial by giving power for major projects like roads and new power stations to an unelected Planning Commission.

Mr Huhne said; "The whole process of the Boorley Green to Durley SDA is the worst type of top down planning decision starting with arbitrary housing numbers for the south east as a whole by the Conservative-controlled regional assembly and then cascaded down through the county councils."

Mr Huhne said that he challenged each part of the reasoning. "I don't accept the Government's view that development ought to be concentrated in the South East to the exclusion of northern England and Scotland where infrastructure like schools, hospitals and roads is already in place.

"Local residents are consulted thoroughly on particular planning applications for a house or school, but in this case of a massive development the Government does not see the need to notify individual householders of what is being considered. The decision on the south east has been delayed and delayed precisely because it has not been done properly after weighing all the alternatives" said Mr Huhne.

"There are now real issues of sustainability in the south east with the size of population we have now: already we have too little water for our needs. The Government and regional assembly cannot go on building here as if there were no environmental constraints".