Labour face both ways on East of England Plan

6.00.00pm GMT Wed 14th Mar 2007

County Cllr Malcolm Cowan believes Labour are the enemy of the green belt in Hertfordshire

Liberal Democrat county councillors roundly criticised Ruth Kelly's revisions to the East of England Plan, which will force tens of thousands of new homes into Herts, eating up Green Belt and eroding the breathing space between towns.

Councillors emphasised that there was a complete lack of infrastructure necessary to support the new homes and warned that the planned figures for homes were minimums not maximums, making it impossible to ever say 'we are now full up.'

Liberal Democrat Councillors were taken aback, however, when Labour environment spokesperson Sue Jones said that critics of the plan, including thousands of local people, were 'like Canute, trying to hold back the tide of progress'.

Liberal Democrat county councillor Malcolm Cowan said: 'Labour had assured us they were also against this plan, but they now seem to be facing both ways.

'We understand their problems when it is their own government trying to cram in so many homes, but we had hoped they would show more independence and stick up for Hertfordshire people, at least while public consultation was under way.'

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