Surrey voted Blue and got Green (15th June)

Conservative-led government are delivering for Surrey.

Dr. Lynne Hack, Cabinet Member for the Environment at Surrey County Council, has praised the new Government for the measures it has taken on the environment since coming to office after a meeting of the Full Council supported the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies.

“The abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies and the ending of official encouragement of ‘garden grabbing’ are very good news for Surrey’s residents.

Regional Spatial Strategies were anything but regional – they were simply Labour’s vehicles for imposing housing targets on local areas whilst trying to avoid taking any of the blame for unpopular decisions. Housing targets should be decided at as local a level as possible, and they should be more meaningful decisions than simply trying to find the ‘least worst’ answer the loaded questions of a discredited Labour government.

We have long been working with other local authorities in Surrey to abolish these undemocratic impositions on local residents, and their abolition is one of the best pieces of news to come from central government in a long while.

The issue of ‘garden-grabbing’ is also one that concerned local residents in Surrey, and I am glad to see action on an area that the Conservative Party have been campaigning on for some time. Green spaces are special and they should be protected where possible. This relates as much to the green belt as it does to people’s gardens, and the government’s re-writing of the Planning Guidance is a welcome and refreshing change from Labour’s war on green spaces.

It is clear to see that this Conservative-led government will listen and will take measures to protect our green spaces rather than simply talking about it”.

Denise Turner-Stewart, who represents Staines South & Ashford West, added, “Spelthorne, like all parts of Surrey, suffered under Labour’s assault on green spaces, and to have centrally imposed housing targets taken away whilst also having more protection for those smaller but equally vital ‘green spaces’ commonly known as gardens are very good news for the residents I represent and for residents throughout Surrey.

When David Cameron made the environment a key part of the Conservative Party’s pitch to voters some people were cynical, but he was building on a tradition of Conservative support for the environment, and he has now proved that if you vote Conservative you get a strong and positive environmental agenda”.