CPRE Worcestershire

WORCESTERSHIRE

 

News and Events

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New Chairman Chairman's Report New Town is NOT the Best Option Regional Perspective Successful AGM at Spetchley
CPRE on Broadway Best-kept Churchyard Compitition Face Lift for the 300 Club Draw Windmills on my mind Can You Do More For Your Local Group

 

I Change and Challenge

This newsletter is being compiled at a changing and challenging time.

Our Branch executive has been enfeebled by the retirement ofTom McDonald as Chairman, as he moves into a more political sphere as District Councillor, and by the resignation of three members due to a desire to spend more time with their families and friends.

I sometimes wonder if emails, popping onto the screen at any time of the day (not quite 24/7 but certainly 16/6) are partly responsible for people looking for the exit more quickly than in the past.You can no longer deal with the post and say ''That's it for today''. When you receive a long report with the request to comment as soon as possible because the sender'will be on leave next week', you feel that the voluntary sector is being absorbed into a new professional class of unpaid assistants!

Worcestershire CPRE will survive these losses, of course, and there are already encouraging signs that we are reaching the turning point. Janet

Inside this issue

Chairman's report NO to new town Regional housing 2007 AGM Broadway Show Redditch report Wychavon report Worcester report Malvern Hills report Bromsgrove report Best-kept churchyard 300 Club

Windmills Contacts

Mackinnon has taken over some of the commitments vacated by David John and her expertise will be a major asset to the Branch. Marie Brown has stepped courageously into the daunting secretarial role vacated by Gillian John. David Willour has brought his American­style courtesy and cheerfulness to the Executive as he wrestles with the intricacies of our constitution.

In spite of these advances, we need more volunteers in some Districts, not merely to help with monitoring planning applications but also to form the nucleus for the next generation of Branch Executive members. Our overall membership is holding near 600 and has not declined as much as in neighbouring counties.This is attributable to the sterling efforts of Steve Gowenlock, although he has now decided to step down as Branch Development Officer.

Moving to other matters, much of this newsletter is concerned with the threat of still more houses, coming forth as part of the Regional Spatial Strategy. It is easy to become depressed and regard the Government's insistence that around 36,000 more houses be built in Worcestershire in the 20 years to 2026 as being far more than ever before. In fact, the 199 I to 201 I plan was for 41,000 dwellings to be built, and some Districts achieved their quota with five years to spare. Even without the impetus given by Kate Barker's simplistic notion that house prices will fall as more are built, we would probably have had to build around 25,000 in the next 20 years, if only to keep builders in steady employment.

Nonetheless, 25,000 houses and flats would have been more tolerable than 36,000, requiring far less incursion into our Green Belts and other areas of countryside due to overflow from Worcester and other towns. Unfortunately, it has been like hitting one's head against a stone wall to dissuade the Government from pressing on with the higher demands, as both our national and regional representatives have found during the past two years. It continues to be mesmerised by the economic advantages of immigration, though how a 3% per annum increase in GNP produced by a 4% rise in population is a particularly good bargain for the country is less easy to justify, particularly when only a small minority seem to be creaming off the additional wealth.

Worse still, the government is now anticipating an acceleration in immigration, much of it converging on England as usual. Projecting recent trends is notoriously foolish but at least the government has stopped pretending that the situation is stabilising. Immigration is now at the top of the political agenda and the subject is being discussed as one of'preference' rather than 'prejudice'.

By the time this newsletter is published, we will probably be coming to the end of a public consultation on the Issues and Options for South Worcestershire. Whether this will resolve or confuse the situation remains to be seen, but a similar exercise for the whole county in 1997 resulted in none of the options being adopted. At that            - time, one option was for a new town and this proposal seems to be resurfacing. We will not be supporting this, for reasons given later. It is, however, becoming vital that the Government confronts the problem of uncontrolled immigration, along with the number of empty and second homes. Otherwise, our capacity to absorb the remorseless demand for more houses through modest expansion of our existing towns and villages will become impracticable.

Frank Hill Chairman

 

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