SURREY Conservatives have called on the government to accept the wishes of the South East Regional Assembly in determining the level of house building in the region. The assembly voted at its plenary meeting in July to adopt a level of 28,900 dwellings per year over the next 20 years, as part of the Draft South East Plan. Part one of the draft plan has now been submitted to the government for consideration. The government had previously favoured a higher level, based upon the findings of the Barker Review. However, a new study from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) has raised a number of doubts about the level of house building needed in the South East. According to new research for the IPPR, a Treasury review of housing supply, conducted by economist Kate Barker, significantly overestimated the number of new homes required in the South East. The study was produced for the IPPR's commission on sustainable development in the South East. The commission's report said: "The Barker review agenda does not seem an appropriate way of meeting housing need in the South East." Nick Skellett, the Conservative group leader, said: "I would strongly urge the government to adopt the level of house building as agreed by SEERA when it considers part one of the South East Plan. "It is due to the work of the Conservatives in the South East that we have managed to arrive at a level of growth that is sustainable in the long term. We are now calling on government to provide the necessary investment to allow local authorities to provide the infrastructure required to meet the demands of this level of house building." He added: "The findings of the IPPR's study confirms what the Conservatives in the South East have been saying since the Barker Review was published. "The review wildly overestimated the level of housing growth in the South East that is possible because it never considered environmental capacity but focused on a narrow economic approach."
