9 November 2006 - Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas will tell people protesting against excessive development in south Hampshire that the existing water infrastructure cannot cope now - let alone with extra 80,000 homes, at a local meeting this week.

An official report published this month said the need for new waste water treatment infrastructure in south Hampshire is so great that if new facilities do not come online in time, then the location, timing and even the number of extra homes for the area may have to be changed.

Dr Lucas said: "No wonder the regional assembly which commissioned this report isn’t shouting from the rooftops about its findings. It paints a grim picture of the Solent estuaries being polluted by the waste-water from the 80,000 extra homes planned for this area.

"It says that even with the best available technology the area’s eight marine and coastal sites of international importance may be damaged because of the sheer increase in volume of treated effluent pouring into the Solent . This can lead to eutrophication - which effectively means ecosystems are starved of oxygen and choke to death."

The report also flags up that increased water abstraction to provide clean water for the new housing may also impact on the area’s rivers and have a knock-on effect on coastal and marine sites.

Dr Lucas is to meet members of residents’ associations, civic societies and environmental groups at the site of a new town planned for the gap between Fareham and the Meon Valley , the gateway to the new South Downs National Park .

She said: "We have seen no account taken of the impact that these 10,000 extra homes and 121,000 sq. metres of business development will have on north Fareham, Wickham and the South Downs National Park . At least half the workers living in this new town are expected to work in other locations, yet there is no public transport link apart from the occasional bus.

"People in this area waited for 20 years for a tram scheme only to see the plan ditched earlier this year. Who has any confidence that the Government will provide public transport infrastructure?"

The development is one of two new towns proposed for south Hampshire in the South-East Plan, a development framework produced by the regional assembly with the assistance of most of the region’s councils.

The other major site is at Hedge End (up to 6,000 homes and 74,000 sq m of business development), but large amounts of housing are proposed for other areas: Portsmouth (14,700), Southampton (16,300), Eastleigh (7,083 - additional to Hedge End new town), Winchester (6,739), Fareham (3,729 - additional to new town), Gosport (2,500), Havant (6,301), East Hants (1,200), New Forest (1,538), Test Valley (3,910).

ENDS