SOUTH West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt has reacted with fury to proposed figures for new homes published last Friday by planners working for the South East of England Regional Assembly (SEERA). Mr Hunt has accused the assembly of riding roughshod over local people's views and described it as "no more than the Deputy Prime Minister's poodle". A target figure of 29,500 new homes a year for the south east region between 2006-2011, rising to 32,000 a year from 2011 to 2016, will be on the agenda when SEERA's planning committee meets on Monday. The meeting will be a critical one for Farnham, as also up for debate will be the town's inclusion in a list of strategic town centres in the draft South East Plan - a designation thought to threaten Farnham's future as a small historic market town. The proposed housing targets have shocked Mr Hunt, who claims that planners have completely ignored the findings of their own consultation, which showed overwhelming support for reducing the number of houses being built to 25,500 a year. If the assembly plumps for development at a rate of up to 32,000 new homes a year, it will be choosing the option favoured by only one in nine of those who responded to the public consultation document, "Your Shout". Mr Hunt commented: "The results of the 'Your Shout' survey could not have been clearer: 68 per cent favoured building a lower number of houses. "Now the assembly is trying to discredit this result by saying that most of the respondents were pensioners and over-55s. But what is the point of doing a consultation if you are going to ignore the result if it is not what you want? "This is an insult to democracy, and shows that the assembly is no more than the Deputy Prime Minister's poodle." He is writing to all the members of the SEERA planning committee asking them to reject the proposals and pay heed to the consultation. His letter states: "The survey was distributed equally to all households, and if younger people chose not to make their voices heard that is their democratic right. But the voice of those who did choose to make their voices heard must not be discounted by presumptions about how those who did not choose to vote may have voted "Given that both the 'Your Shout' consultation and the MORI research favoured the lowest targets, although admittedly by different margins, it seems extraordinary that SEERA officers are proposing to house-building targets of 29,500 for 2006-2011, and 32,000 for 2011-2016. "You will be aware of the strong disconnection felt by voters in France and Holland leading to their rejection of the proposed European Constitution. It would not be an exaggeration to say this is exactly how my constituents would feel if having been 'consulted' their views were roundly ignored in the way proposed by the planning officers." Mr Hunt said he would also be pressing for the removal Farnham from the Western Corridor Blackwater Valley sub-region. "I note that the spatial strategy document does allow for 'making detailed adjustments to the boundary' of sub-regions where necessary. There is surely a pressing case to do this in the case of Farnham, which faces quite different issues to the towns in other parts of the Blackwater Valley region," he insisted. The inclusion of the town within the western corridor has been a major concern of Farnham Town Council, which dispatched a public petition to the assembly bearing more than 700 signatures and has announced that more than 100 further signatures have been received and forwarded to SEERA. Mark Norris, the Liberal Democrat leader of the town council, this week urged the public to write to SEERA endorsing the council's demand for Farnham's removal from the list of strategic town centres included in the draft South East Plan. Such towns, which include Aldershot, Bracknell, Horsham and Winchester, will be the focus for major retail, tourist, office and leisure developments covering more than 24 acres. "Designating Farnham as a strategic town centre alongside places like Bluewater, Reading and Southampton is absurd," said Mr Norris. "We're a small market town of around 15,000 residents surrounded by a number of villages. If the South East planners think that we've got room for major retail, office or leisure developments of more than 10 hecatres or 24 acres in size, they're bonkers. "Doing that would destroy the historic character of our town."
