PRESS TELLS TORY COUNCIL 'GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER'

10.02.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 11th Sep 2009

Uttlesford Conservatives' proposed new town in Elsenham and Henham.

The following editorial appears in this week's Observer alongside two readers' letter which both attack Cllr Jim Ketteridge, Tory leader of Uttlesford DC, for saying that the LDF study work is taking so long because it has to be done thoroughly. They ask why the Tories didn't get the evidence before coming up with their plan for a new town at Elsenham.

"THREAT OF HOMES IS NOT A POLITICAL FOOTBALL

While the elected representatives of Uttlesford's residents take political pot shots at each other, whole villages are being blighted by the threat of massive new housing which will destroy their rural character forever.

It is simply not good enough for former Henham girl Caroline Spelman to urge Tory grandees to drag their feet and hope for a Conservative General Election victory to solve the country's planning crisis.

Her party's pledge to allow local councils to have greater say in regional planning is welcome, but nobody should be fooled that the thorny issue of large scale development will go away if David Cameron moves into Number 10 Downing Street.

Hard and perhaps harsh decisions will inevitably have to be made and it is insulting to pretend otherwise.

Those elected to make these difficult choices must realise that homeowners are facing hardship and families are fearing for their future now because there seems no end in sight to their deliberations.

It's time for Uttlesford District Council to set its house in order."

Related Links:

The story in the Herts & Essex Observer

More comment on Tory Housing plans

The Guardian