Let local people decide their housing targets say Lib Dems

7.25.36pm GMT Wed 19th Nov 2008

With the threat of a new Mereham and South Cambridgeshire residents being consulted on more housing sites to meet Government demands for 20,000 new homes by 2016 Liberal Democrat councillor Jonathan Chatfield backs the call for the national housing target to be built up from local targets and not by Whitehall.

Jonathan Chatfield the Lib Dems' parliamentary spokesperson for South East Cambridgeshire backs the leader of his party Nick Clegg in saying:

"The only way to get more affordable homes delivered is to give more power to the people who know best, that is local people.

"When it comes to centralised and to regional planning for housing it doesn't have local support.

"We need to cut our losses and suspend the ineffective target setting by unelected regional Government and Whitehall .

"Let's build our national housing target from local targets that reflect need on the ground.

"That means trusting the people who know best rather than picking numbers out of the air.

"In South East Cambridgeshire in order to meet the Government's housing target the council has put forward additional sites in Fulbourn and Histon, including Orchard Park for public consultation.

"Neither of these are acceptable as the Fulbourn site is in the Green Belt, while the Orchard Park proposal includes land currently earmarked for employment and a heritage centre.

"These villages are crying out for social and affordable housing, but it should be the local people through the local council who decide how best to meet these needs not a bureaucrat in Whitehall ."