House Building In West Sussex

EDM number 245 in 2005-06, proposed by Nicholas Soames on 06/06/2005.

That this House expresses its grave concern at plans to impose massive building in West Sussex as part of the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan; welcomes the Environmental Audit Committee's report on housing, entitled, Housing: Building a Sustainable Future, which criticises the Government's plans, as not adequately considering the environmental impact of the proposed increase in house building; notes the extensive environmental impact such massive house building would have on the local area; shares the Committee's concern at the lack of an adequate evidence base for the Government's plans which fail to refer to environmental protection, which do not make adequate efforts towards sustainability, and which undermine the Government's own policy on sustainable development; calls on the Government to amend its plans to take into account the environmental impact of such development and to agree to further research as recommended by the Committee; further notes that the current proposals will lead to unacceptable overdevelopment in Mid Sussex and other parts of the South East and will also create further traffic congestion, water shortages, strain on the health service, and overcrowding on trains and other public transport and place undue pressure on all local services in an area already suffering from a substantial infrastructure deficit; condemns the Government for pressing ahead with this plan, even though West Sussex County Council has criticised the proposals; and calls on the Government not to take forward these misconceived and unsustainable plans, which will be harmful to the quality of life in West Sussex.

This motion has been signed by a total of 10 MPs.