Articles and Speeches

Our Beautiful Area is Under Threat
02-Sep-05, Windsor Express Column.

"I have enjoyed the beauty of Windsor, Ascot and the Sunnings for more than 20 years. In the last two years I have visited about 35,000 doorsteps and it is quite clear that our environment has been changing at an alarming rate.

And if you take a walk through Eton, Datchet, Horton, Wraysbury you’ll make the same observation. There is a flood of high-density housing developments and the pace has risen in the last few years.

This places a tremendous pressure on our infrastructure and it is no wonder that residents are so concerned.

When a single house is bulldozed and replaced with multiple dwellings – sometimes several dozen – it is local residents who feel the pressure.

More dwellings bring more cars and congestion to our roads; increasing journey times and pollution levels. More people cause longer waits at the GP surgery and more children deprive existing residents of their first choice of local school.

It has to stop somewhere and this is why I continue to campaign to stop over-development.

This does not mean I am against individuals who are forced to sell their houses to developers or risk losing their family inheritance as the house next door is converted to flats. Neither must we blame the developers who are going about their lawful business.

The Government’s planning policy is to blame, which causes rejected planning consents to often be granted on appeal.

In contrast other areas are crying out for re-development. The Government’s one size fits all policy is ruining our beautiful area.

Please do continue to object to insensitive over-development and let’s stop this madness."

Adam Afriyie, MP for Windsor