SURREY County Council leader Nick Skellett has voiced concerns that the government may be poised to boost the target for new home building in the South East yet higher. Last Thursday, a report by government inspectors on the draft South East Plan was published. In it, they recommended the building of 32,000 new homes a year in the region by 2026 - an increase above the 29,800 previously proposed by the South East Regional Assembly. The cause of Mr Skellett's anger is the suggestion that the government will ignore the inspectors' report and impose even higher housing provisions. The Regional Assembly provided detailed research and analysis for the South East Plan, with the help of Surrey County Council. The inspectors' report praised the quality of the plan, but recommended the further increase in housing. The government, however, has said that the plan was based on policy before Gordon Brown became Prime Minister and it is looking to increase housing provision radically. "It is very worrying that the government is considering powering towards targets that I believe are unsustainable, without paying due care and attention to their own inspectors' recommendations that are only a day old," said Mr Skellett. "The worry is that the government could ride roughshod over the democratic processes of the local authorities and the plans underpinned by thorough research and analysis." He added: "While I am greatly concerned that the inspectors are calling for a Green Belt review in Surrey, I shudder to think, with the disproportionately numbers of new homes already proposed for the county, what the implications for the Green Belt in Surrey will be if the government chooses to impose some of the figures that are being banded about at the moment." The council leader was also worried about infrastructure implications. "The government's only response to the South East Plan, and the report of its own inspectors, is to call for more and more housing, but without any recognition of the transport, health, social care and other infrastructure that must underpin housing growth. "When will it end its silence on the issue of the infrastructure needed to create sustainable housing communities?"
