Green Belt at risk in new county plans for housing
If I had a £ for every story like this I have read over the years I would be a wealthy man. We need more places for people of modest means to live. If England was a football pitch the total amount of houses would not even fill the centre circle.
Without being prepared to openly challenge greenbelt and without taking the view that people should be allowed to live in rural settlements I fear we will end up with an increasing divide between the urban poor and the rural rich. Still I know many Hinterland readers will have different views. The article which has provoked these ruminations is about Northumberland and it tells us:
Northumberland County Council says a failure to keep pace with an ageing and increasing population has meant it is behind Government guidelines on housing numbers.
In a bid to plug the deficit, the council is proposing to “delete” green belt land around Hexham, Prudhoe and Ponteland “in order to deliver the level of economic and housing development required”.
Boundaries around Morpeth are also earmarked for adjustment in a consultation paper released by council leaders this week. Tensions are already high in rural areas of the county as a string of controversial developments await their fate around Darras Hall and Ponteland.
Last night Hexham MP Guy Opperman criticised the “attack on green belt” land and said the consultation paper meant his “worst fears were could be coming true”.
A spokesman for Northumberland County Council last night insisted the consultation was ongoing but said it was acting to ensure “the right amount of development in the right places to help it to thrive economically”.