THE countryside charity Cornwall CPRE says the Prime Minister’s announcement that new homes will not be ‘built on green fields’ signals a welcome u-turn in government planning strategy and shows its core campaign objectives on housing in Cornwall are finally getting through to Number 10.

Boris Johnson’s announcement at last week’s Conservative Party Conference that the government is changing tack on proposals for future development marks a major success for countryside campaigners. It also aligns with Cornwall CPRE’s top two campaign objectives for the county, as stated in a new document released by the charity: To oppose building on any agricultural, woodland or coastal site without a formal Environmental Impact Report — they intend that environmental damage needs to be a major barrier to development unless a significant community need has been established; and to utilise brownfield sites for the building of homes for local people.

CPRE’s full list of purposes also include:

1. To tax heavily, empty houses and substantially unoccupied second homes;

2. To promote and campaign in favour of agriculture practice which sustains the soil, does not pollute the watercourse and helps reverse the current decline in wildlife and its ecosystem;

3. To actively oppose the indiscriminate building of roads and the increase of road traffic;

4. To encourage country crafts, rural industries, village life and rural events;

5. To challenge the myth that tourism should expand further, ‘as it brings money into the County’.

This, they say, is because it creates serious traffic gridlock, air pollution, has almost entirely seasonal and low paid jobs and leaves the county with ghost villages in the winter; 6.Cornwall CPRE strongly supports clean, green energy. They are adamant however that it should be located on brownfield sites, does not damage the landscape or lessen local food production.

It should also bring a clear benefit to the local community or Cornwall.

The Prime Minister’s conference speech signalled a new and long-overdue commitment to protecting green spaces from inappropriate and unscrupulous development. With the Planning Bill just around the corner, Cornwall CPRE wants to ensure that these changes are enshrined in law to ensure our countryside is protected and thriving for all.

Cornwall CPRE chair Richard Stubbs said: “We are delighted that the Prime Minister has come out with a statement that there will be ‘no more homes on green fields’. This is a very welcome reversal of the Government’s previous planning proposals which would have swamped Cornwall with new houses, largely built for outside investors, all of which would have required concreting over even more of our agricultural land. The message has finally got across that ignoring the wishes of the local people has electoral consequences. Even the existing building targets for Cornwall are far too high. Cornwall is approaching gridlock and future planning policy should reflect that.”

CPRE says Cornwall has an ‘imposed’ target of 52,500 new houses to be built by 2030.