Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget Statement and three-year
Spending Review, Crispin Truman, chief executive of CPRE, the
countryside charity, said:
‘The Chancellor’s ‘new age of optimism’ offers a glimmer of hope
in terms of brownfield development but overall, it’s
disappointing that the decades of disadvantage faced by rural
communities look set to continue. Millions of people living in
rural areas have been treated as an afterthought and for them,
this new era looks remarkably like the old one.
‘Having razed rural transport to the ground over the past decade,
the government appears to have now decided that it would require
too much effort to level it back up again. Much of the funding
announcements mentioned today are no more than reheated
announcements. We have yet to see any sign of a serious plan to
tackle the transport deserts blighting the lives of millions of
people living in rural towns and villages. Local transport for
anyone living outside a major city doesn’t get a look in.
‘It's no wonder young people in the countryside feel outpriced
and overlooked – our research has shown that only two in five
young people living in rural areas anticipate staying there over
the next five years, with genuinely affordable housing being
their biggest concern. The woolly messages of optimism could not
be further from the reality faced by rural communities,
especially young people living in the countryside, right now.
‘The good news is that a truly brownfield first approach does
have the potential to breathe new life into those forgotten and
derelict parts of our villages, towns and cities that local
people want to see regenerated. Brownfield homes are a win-win
for nature, climate and the affordable housing crisis. But to
really bridge the gap between words and action, we must see these
commitments backed up by a firm urban ‘brownfield first’ policy
when the government revises the National Planning Policy
Framework next year. Otherwise, we’ll continue to see poorly
designed greenfield developments with no public transport links
that siphon off a lot of public money.’
