Government Refuses to Suspend Mass Housing Plans in Herefordshire

9.10.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 12th Jun 2009

Sarah Carr in the Herefordshire countryside

Hereford and South Herefordshire Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Sarah Carr, has received a response from the Prime Minister's Office rejecting the petition Sarah had signed calling for the suspension of Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) plans for housing development in Herefordshire.

The No 10 response, copied to all petitioners, rejected the call, saying: "The Government does not agree with the proposition that regional housing targets determined through the RSS should be suspended.

"The Government is committed to regional planning and allocation of housing numbers to the district level through the existing RSS system."

Mrs Carr said she was "not surprised by the result."

"Gordon Brown said he would be a listening Prime Minister. Well he clearly isn't listening when it comes to mass housing plans that would amount to environmental vandalism - building on vast tracts of beautiful Herefordshire countryside. I get incredibly angry when I hear the Conservatives who run Herefordshire Council saying they are supporting the plans for more than 16,000 new houses in Herefordshire - with 8,000 new homes built around Hereford!"

Sarah is instead calling on an alternative vision for sustainable housing development in Herefordshire based on affordable housing, employment prospects and local need rather than diktats from a Labour Government implemented by a Conservative Council.