clean up contaminated land to stop urban sprawl

On Saturday the Liberal Democrats' North Eastern Regional Conference called on the Government to put more money into cleaning up contaminated former industrial land and provide social & affordable housing, so reducing the need to cover agricultural land with houses on the outskirts of built-up areas.

A motion was carried unanimously, put forward by Stockton Liberal Democrats, in whose area the council has been forced by Government planning rules to allow house-building in outlying areas while post-industrial land near town centres lies unused because Government money to clean it up is not being made available.

John Fletcher said, "Building miles out from jobs and high streets means more and longer journeys costing more in money and to the environment, eating up land which could be used to produce food, while leaving derelict areas nearer our town centres. People on lower incomes need housing they can afford in places where their travelling costs would be lower. Building such homes is not currently viable for developers if they have to bear the cost of cleaning up the land first.

"The surface of this planet is finite. Let us not waste it by doing what is easy and cheap in the short term."