Garden cities not the only answer to national housing shortage, says CLA
Ebeneezer Howard was a classic Victorian visionary who wanted to give everyone a decent living environment through his Garden Cities. Those who are reluctant to face the challenge of letting people achieve their aspirations of living and working in rural England are now re-inventing his ideas. The CLA is on their case as this article reveals.
The CLA has said the Government should not overlook the role that the incremental growth of rural settlements across England could play in tackling the national housing shortage.
The Association said the Deputy Prime Minister’s call for more garden cities in the Home Counties were not the only answer to the lack of housing.
CLA President Harry Cotterell said: “We understand the Government is worried about the slow progress of localism but Nick Clegg has failed to recognise that without growth, the lack of new housing means rural settlements are losing services to the extent they have become unsustainable.”
Mr Cotterell also said a suggestion from the Campaign to Protect Rural England that housing should be delivered exclusively through urban regeneration and on brown field sites is not feasible.
He said: “Austerity and the national deficit mean that the regeneration budgets once held by the Homes and Communities Agency and English Partnerships are no longer in place.
“With a need for more than 200,000 homes each year, it will be necessary to use some green field sites, including land for strategic urban extensions and for critically needed rural-based housing of all types.”