'WHO WOULD BUY HOUSES HERE?' SAY PROTESTERS (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

'WHO WOULD BUY HOUSES HERE?' SAY PROTESTERS

October 8, 2007 4:22 PM

Flooded area in July 2007

CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood joined protesters in Leckhampton opposed to new development on scenic local green spaces that flooded in the summer. And he brought along his parliamentary boss, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for the environment, food & rural affairs Chris Huhne MP.

Protesters in Leckhampton

The application is for 360 new houses to be built off Farm Lane in Leckhampton, lying just over the borough boundary in Tewkesbury Borough. But it has repeatedly been ruled unsuitable for development by government inspectors and was recently taken out of the Tewkesbury Local Plan by the High Court. It contains public rights of way including the Cheltenham Circular Challenge route. The Leckhampton Green Land Action Group - LEGLAG - has been campaigning for years to protect the area from overdevelopment.

Martin has been a member of LEGLAG since his father, the late Don Horwood, helped to set the group up. He said 'I'm determined to help local people stop this development. This isn't NIMBYism - I've supported more housing inside Cheltenham, more regeneration in urban areas like Birmingham, more houses to support struggling villages, more houses in counties like Cornwall where they need and want them more. The last place we should be building such large numbers of houses is on much-valued green spaces, especially when we now know that they're prone to flooding. Who would buy these houses if they knew what had happened here in July?'

'I'm especially pleased that we had the backing today of Chris Huhne, my boss on the Lib Dem environment team in Parliament. Chris has strongly opposed the government's determination to keep building houses without paying attention to the environmental consequences.'