MPs call for housing plan review

Guildford is one of the areas earmarked for additional housing

The government has been asked to reconsider its plans to build thousands of new homes in Surrey and Sussex.

MPs told the House of Commons on Wednesday their constituencies would not be able to cope with the numbers of homes proposed in the South East Plan.

The government wants 33,125 homes to be built in the South East each year until 2026 but says 80% of the region would still be classified as rural.

A public consultation into the housing plan ends on Friday.

The South East Plan has been under discussion since 2004.

It covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex, and affects eight million people.

Local authorities originally suggested 28,900 new homes a year should be built, but the number has twice been increased by the government.

It is impossible to imagine how any area can cope with this kind of impact on housing Nicholas Soames MP

Among areas targeted is land to the north-east of Guildford, which is likely to include green belt.

The town's Conservative MP, Anne Milton, told the House the plan would put the future of the green belt and the special character of the town centre at "severe risk".

She said roads in the north of the town were already congested.

"We may be a transport hub but we certainly are not a regional hub," she said.

"The town cannot and should not be a centre for significant change.

"We are a historic town that is struggling now."

'Completely unreasonable'

Nicholas Soames, Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, said local infrastructure could not cope with the level of housing demand.

"It is unsustainable," he said.

"It is completely unreasonable and impossible to imagine how any area can cope with this kind of impact on housing and retain the quality of life that people have come to expect".

The government has said more housing is needed, with more than 200,000 households on council waiting lists in the region and more than 7,500 homeless households in temporary accommodation.

It said there would be "a co-ordinated approach" to protect the Thames Basin Heaths area, which spans Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, and other areas of natural beauty.

The government has also said that "beyond the short-term squeeze of the credit crunch" the number of new households was still outgrowing the number of homes being built.