The Department of Communities and Local Government has announced that it will back the Garden Villages with a £6m fund in the next two years, which should deliver 48,000 homes from Cornwall to Cumbria.
eMoov chief executive Russell Quirk has urged ‘Middle-England Anarchists’ to stand aside over the 14 new Garden Villages set to be built across England.
The Department of Communities and Local Government has announced that it will back the Garden Villages with a £6m fund in the next two years, which should deliver 48,000 homes from Cornwall to Cumbria.
But Quirk (pictured) expects people living near the developments to try and scupper the schemes at the local planning stage, as he went so far as to call for a ‘shortcutting’ of democracy to cut through local politics and make sure the homes get built.
Quirk said: “The problem for government is that despite their best intentions in laying the foundations for more homes with this announcement, many of these schemes will fail at the local planning stage as not everyone will be so accommodating of these plans.
“Primarily those that live nearby to them, otherwise known as NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard).
“What we will no doubt now see are objections from each local populace on the grounds of overdevelopment, unsustainable traffic, not enough doctors or dentist surgeries, noise and air pollution and the blighting of our green and pleasant land.”
He added: “But frankly, these 'Middle-England anarchists' need to suck it up and move aside as those that live in glass houses, so to speak, should not be so narrow-minded nor so hypocritical as to prevent others enjoying the same comforts as they do.
“The consequence then of such a head in the sand, 'no not here' attitude is that our kids and their kids will struggle to own a home. In the meantime, house prices will continue skywards as we continue to deny our offspring the right to buy.
“So, whilst I am an ultimate democrat when emotions and politics get in the way of common sense you have no choice but to remove the politics from the process.
“If that means short-cutting democracy to get the 200,000 homes built, then that is what the government must do, even if it is against the tide of localism and all such similar political rhetoric of the last few years.”
The 14 new garden villages will be in Long Marston in Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxfordshire Cotswolds, Deenethorpe in Northamptonshire, Culm in Devon, Welborne in Hampshire, West Carclaze in Cornwall, Dunton Hills in Essex, Spitalgate Heath in Lincolnshire, Halsnead in Merseyside, Longcross in Surrey, Bailrigg in Lancaster, Infinity Garden Village in Derbyshire, St Cuthberts in Cumbria and Handforth in Cheshire.
The government is already supporting seven garden towns in Aylesbury, Taunton, Bicester, Didcot, Basingstoke, Ebbsfleet, and north Northamptonshire.
Gavin Barwell, housing and planning minister, said: “Locally-led garden towns and villages have enormous potential to deliver the homes that communities need.
“New communities not only deliver homes, they also bring new jobs and facilities and a big boost to local economies. These places combined could provide almost 200,000 homes.”
