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Labour accuse Greens of U-turn over building on green space

By James Ledward
Oct 11, 2011 - 8:35:25 AM
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Cllr Warren Morgan

Labour and Co-operative have accused Brighton and Hove's Green Council of having performed their "most dangerous U-turn yet", by siding with the Tory Government to concrete over the city’s precious Downland.
 
They claim last weeks announcement about using the urban fringe at Toad’s Hole Valley for housing, contradicts Green Councillor Pete West’s statements to Council when the issue was last debated in December 2009.
 
Councillor West, currently the Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability, promised the Greens would: “remove the threat of housing development in the urban fringe”, that the “biologically important” urban fringe should not be “downgraded, discarded and forgotten” and should not be “available to meet our housing targets, even as a last resort”. He said it would be a “mark of our civilization” not to develop the urban fringe.
 
However, Labour now claim the Greens, including Cllr West, are bringing forward urban fringe areas for housing development whilst leaving brown-field alternatives untouched.
 
Labour & Co-operative Deputy Leader & Lead Spokesperson for Planning, Councillor Warren Morgan, said:
“We are shocked that the Greens have decided to build on this open space on the edge of our Downland for development, especially when there are more suitable brown-field sites available.
 
“The Greens headline-chasing statements in opposition have truly come back to haunt them, and they have made their “last resort” their first port of call when doing the Tory government’s job of concreting over our fields and open spaces.”


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