Housing Action Group Launches Alternative Vision For Housing Development In South Worcestershire

3.19.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 6th Jul 2009

South Worcestershire Housing Action Group (SWHAG) today launched its alternative vision for housing development, calling for the suspension of the Regional Spatial Strategy and its replacement with five year rolling development plans, anticipating a local need of just under 11,000 new houses, rather than government proposals for at least 24,500 by 2026.

The group, chaired by Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Richard Burt, has met several times to finalise their alternative proposals, entitled 'A New Vision for Housing Development in South Worcestershire'.

Now the document has been sent to councillors in Malvern Hills, Worcester and Wychavon in an effort to win them over before crucial council votes expected in October this year.

The group will also forward their document to the new Housing Minister, John Healy MP in a bid to make the Government think again.

Richard said: "It is easy just to say no to these mass housing plans, but we wanted to put forward realistic proposals that would benefit South Worcestershire without wrecking the environment and existing communities.

"We have been able to show by using the government's own population and employment statistics that the proposed housing numbers just do not stack up.

"There is a growing black hole in the financing of necessary infrastructure for development on this scale and there simply won't be enough jobs to support growth at these levels.

"Our own figures show that less than half the proposed numbers could be supported from current projections of employment growth in South Worcestershire.

"We want to persuade councillors who voted for 24,500 extra houses last year to think again, and we have also given them a realistic alternative to work with if they reject the current plans."