Greenfield land under threat
Friday 1st August, 2003
New homes are likely to be built on greenfield land in the Broxbourne borough under sweeping plans to build thousands of dwellings in the M11 corridor, a Government spokesman has revealed.
While the numbers involved are far from clear, Broxbourne's Tory MP Marion Roe said the "lack of information" about how the scheme would affect the district left her "extremely worried".
"It is causing me great concern and until we have more information we'll all be on tenterhooks," she said.
"There always seems to be somebody who wants to build on Green Belt sites in Broxbourne."
Up to 40,000 new homes are being earmarked for the area, which includes East Herts and the upper Lee Valley, as part of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's sustainable communities plan. That is on top of the 49,000 houses already planned for Herts by 2016.
A spokesman for Mr Prescott remained vague about the exact locations, but said: "The upper Lee Valley is more likely to mean Broxbourne borough than the east London area."
But Bill Rammell, Labour MP for Harlow, including Nazeing and Roydon, said: "Many politicians are saying we don't need extra houses — I'm not prepared to do that. There is housing need in our villages, we need affordable housing."
A Broxbourne Council spokeswoman said: "The upper Lee Valley does include the borough, but it also spreads as far as Tottenham in north London."
But there was hope from former Hoddesdon resident Kevin FitzGerald, director of CPRE (Council for the Protection of Rural England). He branded the plans "vague", but said he did not think Broxbourne borough would be affected.
"There's already greenfield land being built on at the MAFF site in Hoddesdon and Canada Fields in Turnford, so we might escape more houses... we'll have to keep our fingers crossed."