Cameron’s suggestion for new towns met with vocal opposition
Cameron’s suggestion for new towns met with vocal opposition.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested a plan for the development of a series of new towns in the UK. He claims that they would offer pleasant housing conditions and would also help boost the economy. Yet, some rural groups and green campaigners are worried that going forth with the construction would actually ‘disfigure’ the countryside and damage the fabric of Britain, instead of having a positive effect.
The leaders of the Campaign to ‘Protect Rural England’ strongly object to the plans for building in the countryside. They are afraid that if the government’s draft for the reform remains as it was last year, what would actually happen is sprawling development, instead of carefully planned settlement. They demand that the final planning framework recognizes the intrinsic value of the countryside, which would prevent sporadic and inappropriate development across the country.
The answer of the government to those claims is that they would protect green belt areas and national parks. However, most experts agree that the Island urgently needs more living-space where significant new growth can happen.
Cameron pointed out that places such as Hampstead Garden Suburb, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City may not be perfect, but they are quite popular among settlers and the coalition would seek to build more such towns. The main aim here is to develop green, planned and secure areas, with gardens, places to play and characterful houses, not just car dominated concrete grids. A consultation process will be launched later this year on how to apply the principles of garden cities to areas with high potential growth.
Cameron ruled out the possibility for a third runway at Heathrow, but he supported the idea of building a new international airport to the east of London, which would help retain UK’s status as a key global hub for air travel, not just a transit destination to bigger airports in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
