Welcome to Save the South
Latest Facts
- We have created a new planning database for Southern England. Find plans near you
- Find out exactly how overdevelopment will adversely affect YOU.
- Just how much traffic can a motorway take? Read our M27 capacity analysis.
"Save the South" has been created to inform people about proposed house-building targets and how (despite what we are told by government) they are likely to end up having a very detrimental effect on Southern England.
Millions of new houses are set to be built throughout the country - particularly in the South. However, many people are unaware of the sheer scale and exact locations of what is being proposed. This website aims to spell out the plans in detail, and to give the facts that the government won't tell us.
You can now subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed!
Our Aims
Our petition calls upon the government to scrap the current, unsustainable housing targets being forced upon Southern England (see the issues for an in-depth discussion, and our proposals for an alternative way forward).
We hope to encourage and support local opposition to the South East and South West Plans by joining together local groups, lobbying local representatives, and ensuring that as many people as possible are made aware of the unsustainable and irreversibly damaging nature of these proposals.
Newsletter
The key issues facing the South of England
We hope to voice an opinion on the following:
House Building
The government is setting targets to enforce the building of over three million new homes in England by 2020 - a 15% increase from current levels. The South will bear the brunt of this building frenzy, and 128,000 new properties will be built in Hampshire alone, with this pattern repeated across all the southern counties. We argue that pandering to housing demand in this way will not only fail to achieve a significant reduction in house prices, but will overstretch the local infrastructure to the point of reducing the quality of life for everyone in the region, and will irreversibly ruin the countryside areas that once defined England’s "green and pleasant land"... (read more)
House Prices
The economics of the housing market are highly complex, but ultimately boil down to two factors: supply and demand. The government wants to convince us that house prices will be lowered by increasing the supply of housing. However, with all other factors taken into account, this will not be the case. It is the demand for housing caused by increased population, elevated desire to live in the South of the country (yes, the North-South divide is very much still alive), unrealistic aspirations, immigration and smaller households leading to the excessive demand. Increasing the supply will only make these issues more pronounced, since in reality, the demand is fuelled by the supply… (read more)
Transport Provision
Anyone who lives and commutes in the South of England will know intuitively that, for example, an extra 128,000 cars in Hampshire alone will gridlock the existing road network. During the rush hour at present, even the slightest minor incident on the motorway can cause traffic chaos for miles around – some of us commuters already suffer hour-long delays on a regular basis. Worse still, most of the traffic problems are already due to "sheer volume of traffic". (read more)
Services and Infrastructure
While 2007 may have been the wettest year on record, those with longer memories may wish to cast their minds back to 2006 – one of the driest years on record. The drought was severe and water was becoming a scarce resource in the South East of England. Virtually all water sources in the South East are already classified as "over-abstracted". The only possible result of overdevelopment is water rationing, soaring rates and compulsory metering.
New hospitals, hundreds of new schools, dental practices, doctor’s surgeries and the like will be needed to support the massive increase in population density, not to mention social and community facilities. Rest assured that inadequate facilities will be provided to support the increased burden. Any unique local attractions, such as the New Forest will become inaccessible at weekends due to unrealistic visitor numbers. (read more)
Destruction of Rural Areas, Farmland and Countryside
The countryside is not only important for scenery and wildlife; it is the life-blood of this country. Our soil is probably the most fertile in the world yet agriculture in England is on the decline. Building hundreds of thousands of houses on prime agricultural land while half of the world is starving just does not make sense. Any hope of this country ever being able to feed itself when lack of oil or political situations prevent the import of supplies will fade away when all of our best land has been covered in concrete... (read more)