Martin calls on councils to protect countryside for all

4.26.00pm GMT Fri 19th Feb 2010

In a detailed submission to Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham councils, Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood has called on them to rule out so-called 'urban extensions' that would threaten the countryside around Cheltenham. Martin was responding to the three councils' initial consultation on its Joint Core Strategy which will set out future plans on everything from new housing to renewable energy. The Joint Core Strategy will have to implement the government's controversial Regional Spatial Strategy unless it is scrapped after the General Election.

Martin's submission also called for more of the housing built in urban areas to be affordable social housing for rent and for more natural flood defences and renewable energy.

Martin argued that 'There is ample evidence that access to green countryside is popular and good for us, that the countryside most used by people is close to urban areas, that prioritising redevelopment over greenfield newbuild brings lower carbon emissions and that countryside used for public enjoyment and for agriculture is under unprecedented pressure. The ferocity of opposition to urban extensions may be simplistically characterised as 'Nimbyism' but it actually reflects the high usage of countryside right next to urban populations for leisure, local food production, enjoyment and relaxation and the importance placed on access to it by most local people."

'In the end' Martin concluded 'we will have to accept that a town like Cheltenham with an historic centre, valuable rural hinterland and established communities and suburbs will reach an optimum size and population and can grow no more without serious damage to its citizens' quality of life.'