04 August 2006
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has hit out at the 'environmental vandalism' of a huge rise in house building in the West Midlands.
It says that government pressure is leading to developers dropping schemes on brownfield sites for more commercially attractive areas in the green belt.
Shropshire and Herefordshire are among councils which have told the West Midlands Regional Assembly they cannot meet government requirements without serious damage to the countryside and market towns.
Peter Langley, vice-chair of West Midlands CPRE, said: '[We] need more affordable homes, but swamping the market with greenfield land won't achieve that.'
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