Six-point plan to end the rural housing sprawl

I WOULD like to put some ideas forward regarding the housing sprawl that some people call rural regeneration. We are creating a visual mess in the approach roads to our towns and villages. It is also creating social and cultural problems. There is little or no social cohesion or sense of community involved in building one house after another along the roadside.

There also tends to be a hollowing-out of families living in streets in small towns and villages as people move to the outskirts. This has a deadening effect on social life. It creates more traffic congestion, noise pollution and a worsening of health and quality of life. For instance, how many people do you see cycling any more? A walk in the countryside is not as pleasant as it used to be because ribbon development generates more and more traffic.

I would recommend the following points as a start for a landscape policy.