TORIES ACCUSE OPPONENTS OF 'WRECKING' CHANCE
TO SAVE THE GREEN BELT!
Bristol Conservatives have accused Lib Dem and Labour Councillors of 'wrecking' a Tory attempt to protect the Green Belt at last Tuesday's meeting of Full Council.
A motion tabled by Tory Group Leader Councillor Richard Eddy opposed to the Government's housing targets contained in the draft Revised Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West (RSS).
If adopted, the present controversial plan would see 36,500 more homes built within Bristol by 2026, predominantly on open space and Green Belt land.
In addition, the Government is seeking to impose another 10,000 homes in Ashton Vale (North Somerset), 8,000 near Whitchurch (BANES) and 6,000 to the north of the City (South Gloucestershire).
But the Tory bid to build a cross-Party consensus against the housing targets floundered as a result of Lib Dem and Labour councillors choosing to back a watered-down resolution.
An amendment by Lib Dem Councillor Jon Rogers gave a far weaker commitment to protecting Bristol's green spaces and surrounding undeveloped land by not explicitly opposing the planned urban extensions.
Cllr Eddy (Con, Bishopsworth) said: I am dismayed that shabby political game-playing has scuppered this chance to defend the Green Belt from ruinous over-development.
The Government's proposals for house building are simply unrealistic, unworkable and unsustainable and deserve to be defeated.
In the last instance, we should be prepared to mount a joint legal challenge with the neighbouring Conservative Councils.
People concerned about the destruction of our quality of life should rightly be angered that Bristol's Labour and Lib Dem councillors have effectively given a green light to reckless development, including the 9,500 new town planned in Ashton Vale.
It is clear that only the Conservatives are genuinely committed to conserving the Green Belt and our sole guarantee of safeguarding it is the election of a new Conservative Government.
