Date: 24-11-2006 - Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Save the cities 'by building on farms'

The Tory housing spokesman, Michael Gove, reignited a smouldering row yesterday by suggesting that homes should be built on unused farmland.

Senior colleagues, including Mr Gove's boss, Caroline Spelman, declined to comment on Mr Gove's remarks that he would rather preserve green space in cities than in the countryside.

Mr Gove gave an interview to Inside Housing, published today, in which he says: "One of the concerns is that we are losing urban green space at too quick a rate. We are seeing our cities becoming greyer and greyer.

"Some [farm land] is being subsidised [as set aside land] to be used for no purpose."

Mr Gove, who formerly ran the Policy Exchange, a think tank which has advocated the relaxation of planning rules, says: "Urban green space is more valuable than rural green space. If we are looking at development, of course, we should use brownfield land first but that is not going to be enough to meet our housing needs."

Mr Gove also says environmental arguments were being given too much weight in development debates. His comments are published as a Government-appointed panel is to examine a plan for the South East, which includes his own constituency of Surrey Heaths.

Leaders of all the county councils in the South East - all of whom are Conservative - want the number of houses built over the next 20 years in the region to be held below 29,000 a year - 578,000 over 20 years.

But a report by the Government Office for the South East has suggested building up to 46,000 homes a year, 920,000 over 20 years. A source close to the Tories in the South East said: "Mr Gove's constituents will not be happy."

Conservationists criticised Mr Gove's remarks as "disturbing".

Neil Sinden, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "Mr Gove's comments show the tension that exists between the line being taken by Caroline Spelman, the Tory local government spokesman, over the past 12 months and the line taken by David Cameron at the Tory party conference.

"Who is controlling Conservative policy?"

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