Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire, this week welcomed news that the three South Worcestershire councils have asked the Government Office of the West Midlands for permission to extend the SWJCS process by six months.
Harriett Baldwin said, "A Conservative government will abolish the whole top-down imposition of excessive housing numbers by ending the Regional Spatial Strategy. This extension, if permitted by the government, would take the process past the last possible date for a General Election. In this way, South Worcestershire's voters will be able to express a view on the best way to approach housing provision.
As the results from the Norwich North by-election show, this is now the government of the living dead. We need a General Election as soon as possible so that we can all express the opinion that Norwich North voters have been permitted to express."
In further related news, the government's recent announcement of £1.5 billion of financial help for housing - Building Britain's Future - is apparently being funded by cutting infrastructure spending. This week Worcestershire County Council has learned that the Growth Point Infrastructure funding has been cut by £1mm or 43% in 2010/11. The Growth Fund is intended to support the provision of infrastructure for planned housing growth. Despite this cut, the government presses on with the requirement that South Worcestershire accommodate 24,500 homes over the next 15 years."