THE Government has been advised to dump its 'predict and provide' policy on future housing by West Devon Council which is struggling to attain the quotas recently imposed upon the borough.
The need to find sites to accommodate a further 1,500 homes in West Devon before 2011 would overload the borough's outdated water and sewerage infrastructure says the council.
Peter Hill, chair of West Devon's policy and resources committee, recently wrote to John Prescott pointing out the difficulty of carrying out the government's edict to provide a total of 4,100 homes outside Dartmoor National Park in the next ten years.
Taking into account houses already built and developments which have planning permission, there is a shortfall of 1,500 dwellings to be found in the borough.
'Although this is not a large number compared to other places, because we have so many planning constraints — for instance near the Tamar Valley area of outstanding natural beauty — this means that new building is restricted to certain areas,' said Mr Hill.
The Government has urged the South West to look for 50 per cent brown field development as an alternative to building on green field sites.
West Devon old industrial sites do not abound and, therefore, filling the quota of reclaimed sites here is very difficult, said Mr Hill.
As well as overloading the outdated water and sewerage infrastructure, councillors also feel the extra homes would encourage the use of private cars causing pollution and congestion.
This could cause Tavistock and villages south of the borough to become dormitories for Plymouth workers, changing the character of the market towns.
In his letter, Mr Hill said: 'This council urges the Government to move away from the old "predict and provide" method of housing provision towards a "plan, monitor and manage" approach in the emerging regional planning guidance for the South West.'
The new method would allow councils to measure demand again and again as peoples' work habits and travel habits change — taking a responsive approach to the provision of housing.
'It is often thought that we need new housing because we have so many more new people in the South West,' he said.
'It's just a thought to let you know that most new housing is not required for people coming in — but for people who divorce and then need two homes, because fitter older people live in their homes longer and for teenagers who move out instead of staying at home until they marry as two generations ago they used to.'