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Government defends tactics
From the archive, first published Friday 14th Oct 2005.
A PENSIONER who has campaigned against new homes being built on north Wiltshire's green fields has taken her fight to the top by writing to deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Doreen Stevenson, 63, fought bitterly against plans to build hundreds of homes on fields next to her Hatton Way home in Corsham. The Katherine Park estate now stands on the land.
This week MP Yvette Cooper, minister for housing and planning, replied to her letter and said there was a 150,000-home shortage in the south.
She said: "We have not been building enough houses in southern England to meet rising demand and changing social trends, which have seen a significant rise in the number of one and two person households."
Mrs Cooper said the government was committed to protecting the environment and that tactics were being used to keep the impact of developments to a minimum. "We are building at higher densities and using more brownfield land," she said.
Mrs Stevenson asked in her letter: "I would like to know what you are going to do about this very serious problem. The more houses being built, the more destruction to the environment."
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