CPRE: ban greenfield Thames development

Countryside developments on greenfield land in the Thames Gateway, the proposed "linear city" stretching along 40 miles of the Thames to the Kent and Essex coasts.

The Government hopes the project will relieve the housing shortage in the South-East by providing 120,000 new homes over 12 years. Most development should be on brownfield - or previously developed - sites. But the Campaign to Protect Rural England said that even the amount of greenfield development permitted by the Government - up to 20 per cent - was too much and called for a ban. In its report, Thames Gateway - Making Progress, the CPRE called the Government's position "perverse".

Director Nigel Kersey said the project "should not be allowed to become a Trojan horse for developers greedily hoping for a greenfield feast".

He added: "Given the Mayor's welcome aspirations to accommodate 120,000 new dwellings on brownfield sites in the London part of Gateway alone, there can be no excuse for allowing greenfield growth anywhere in the Thames Gateway for the foreseeable future." Meanwhile, another report says the Chancellor's plans to build more than a million new homes in England to curb house-price rises would have a devastating effect on the environment. The unpublished document claims the programme will lead to a loss of greenfield land equivalent to half of Greater London.

Research carried out on behalf of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs examined the implications of a Treasury proposal to build 1.4million extra homes over the next 10 years. It concluded that the environmental impact of the use of land alone would be "significant and severe".