Reviewing the East of England Plan - and making sure Hanley Grange wasn't hidden in it!

I rounded off a busy week (two evenings of parish council meetings and an evening district council meeting) by attending the East Of England Regional Assembly on behalf of South Cambs District Council.

The Assembly consists of 53 elected councillors from across the east of england, and today we voted to start consultation on what sort of growth (including housing) we can realistically expect in this region over the decade ahead. One thing that we decided was that any growth in the region needed to be supported by timely provison of infrastructure - in other words the roads, schools and amenities to support house-building.

The main thing now is that is up to the district councils - including South Cambs - as the planning authorities, to provide the evidence for what sort of growth is sustainable. We must do this otherwise the planners in Whitehall will conjure up housing numbers that will result in concreting over the historic counties of East Anglia. And if they do come up with big numbers, then our friends the developers will blow the dust off Hanley Grange ...