Housebuilding Chaos in Dying Days of a Failing Government

South Cambridgeshire MP, Anthony Browne, and local Conservatives have failed to stand up to Government plans to strip South Cambs residents of their voice on planning matters despite Browne being a Minister with a direct line to Michael Gove.. Browne told media and constituents that the plans were “dead on arrival” but either he’s saying one thing locally and another to his government or this government has given up completely on maintaining any Conservative MPs in Cambridgeshire because they’re obviously not listening to local concerns. In his Ministerial Statement made to the Press rather than to Parliament today, Conservative Secretary of State, Michael Gove, has confirmed his pie-in-the-sky plans to build an additional 150,000 houses or more on green belt around Cambridge.

The Government has consistently failed to meet any of their housing targets resulting in an ever-increasing cost of home ownership, locking out a whole generation from the housing market and hitting the most vulnerable in our society the hardest. The contrast with South Cambridgeshire District Council couldn’t be clearer, where we’ve been working with local communities to build homes in areas which make sense locally, creating much needed jobs and opportunities. South Cambs are building homes at a high rate, well above nationally set targets – yet the Government seem bent on taking a sledgehammer to something that’s working well. The Government has signalled it plans to put in place a Development Corporation in Greater Cambridge, completely overriding local planning processes, and railroading the development without concern for local challenges.

South Cambridgeshire has one of the highest densities of irreplaceable chalk stream habitats anywhere on Earth and plans for ‘northwards’ of 150,000 extra houses would be devastating for them, in an area of the country already having to tackle water scarcity issues – and struggling with capacity for managing sewage. Pippa Heylings, Parliamentary Candidate for South Cambridgeshire has been fighting a campaign to clean up our rivers and stop dumping sewage and knows firsthand that there is no capacity on the side of the water companies to provide the water for these additional homes.

Greater Cambridge, rightfully, is an area with an incredible potential for development, demonstrated by new towns like Waterbeach, Northstowe and Cambourne, as well as the growth of sites like the Biomedical Campus. The Government’s plans for a Development Corporation will do nothing to bring the new schools, GP surgeries and public transport that existing and new communities need.

South Cambridgeshire Lib Dems are pushing for sustainable development, creating the right homes in the right places, bringing investment and opportunities to the district, as opposed to this Government’s pie-in-the-sky plans which come with the nasty side effect of exacerbating the water scarcity crisis and the dumping of raw sewage whilst at the same time stopping local communities from having any voice.