Council Leads Revolt Against Tory Plans for More Houses in the South East

AS Conservative leader, David Cameron, recovers from a damaging row over scrapping support for new grammar schools, he has been threatened with another internal revolt – over housing policy.
Tory plans to build more housing in the South East have come in for criticism from Conservative councillors who have warned of a ‘grammar school-style’ row if a big extension in construction is backed.

Oxfordshire County Council and the South East England Regional Assembly leader, Keith Mitchell, said: “My message to the leadership is that if you push the numbers too far, you get to a situation where the roads and rail seize up, schools are overcrowded and hospitals can’t cope.”

Conservative member of the Commons Communities and Local Government committee, Sir Paul Beresford, also warned that: “The party’s way forward has to involve both encouraging more building in the North where the jobs are needed, as well as building in the South that does not encroach on greenfield sites or gardens.
“We need to stand firm on our plans to tighten up the rules to stop garden-grabbing, which is becoming a real issue. But mimicking Prescott’s approach would be wrong.”

According to the webside, ePolitix.com, the shadow housing minister, Michael Gove, has sought to play down the concerns and is quoted as saying:
“As David Cameron, Caroline Spelman and I have made clear, we need to build more homes to help first-time buyers on to the property ladder but unlike Labour we will work with communities, not against them, to provide organic growth that respects the environment and protects valuable green space.”