Campaigners welcome Prescott's departure from ODPM

Countryside campaigners said they hoped John Prescott's departure from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister today would be the start of "better things in the future".

The call for change from the Campaign to Protect Rural England follows controversy over plans for thousands of new homes in the South East, aimed at meeting demand fuelled by spiralling property prices.

Nick Schoon, communications director of the CPRE, said: "Mr Prescott has been something of a mixed blessing for the cause of the environment and the countryside.

"It certainly hasn't been all bad, and there has been real enthusiasm for urban regeneration, which is great.

"On the other hand, the story with planning reforms and transport - which he had in his early days - has not been happy.

"There are real, legitimate concerns about the loss of countryside and we are hopeful of better things in the future."

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is, among other things, responsible for planning, sustainable communities, local government and the regions.

And Mr Prescott fuelled protests from residents living in towns and villages near four property "hot spots" which he identified as the Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes, the Cambridge-Stansted corridor and Ashford in Kent.

His call for thousands of new homes to meet demand, particularly among public sector workers priced out of the London property market, set alarm bells ringing among rural campaigners.

Although planning ministers have always insisted that using brownfield sites for homes is a priority, critics warn there is not enough old industrial land in the South East to meet Government targets, and Green Belt - which has acted like a "corset" around London, preventing urban sprawl - is being put at risk.

More recently there have been complaints that changes in the planning regulations have made large suburban gardens vulnerable to inappropriate high-density development of blocks of flats.

This, coupled with a water shortage and drought in the South East, has added to concerns over the scale of the ODPM's ambitious building plans.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England and the National Trust have now joined forces to raise a petition demanding that the East of England Plan is "greened".

The Plan, which was to have been published by Mr Prescott in the autumn, contains proposals for growth on an enormous scale, including 478,000 new homes by 2021, industrial business development and 67 road schemes.

But the CPRE has warned that the plans are unsustainable and will have long-term impacts on internationally important green spaces such as Hatfield Forest, owned by the National Trust.

Copyright Press Association 2006.