Brownfield Development Sites pledge on Thames Gateway Homes
Thousands of new homes planned for the Thames Gateway will be built on recycled brownfield development sites.
Housing and Planning Minister Keith Hill said the Gateway represented the "largest collection of brownfield development sites next to a capital city in in Europe".
Opening a short debate, he said that in 1997 only 56% of new dwellings in England went on previously used brownfield development sites, compared to 67% last year.
Average density had risen from 25 dwellings per hectare in 1997, to 33 last year and the Government had "even more ambitious" plans for the Thames Gateway.
"Densities will higher than those previously tolerated and this will guard against profligate UK land use.
"The plain fact is that with an average density of 40 dwellings per hectare there is more than enough brownfield land and brownfield development sites in the Gateway to accommodate the housing growth targets the Government proposes.
"So much for the doomsday scenarios of the concreting over the countryside brigade."
Future Brownfield Development Sites
Mr Hill said a successful Olympic bid would provide a further boost for the area, with new facilities planned for Stratford and other brownfield development sites.
The Thames Gateway, he said, offered the key opportunity for sustainable growth and development in the south east.
Source: The Scotsman, 15.11.2004
