It is ironic that The Sunday Times chose to print and report a letter of endorsement of the CPRE's 'charter to save our countryside' from a collection of the Country's literati in the same week that it also highlighted the MoD's intent to sell the Household Cavalry Barracks in Hyde Park. The publication of both serves as a magnifying glass on the difficulties facing planners and developers in meeting our national housing requirements.

The basic premise of the CPRE's argument is not new.  The Government is giving preferential treatment to 'virgin' (it's always evocative) greenfield sites over brownfield options (factually not correct); there are numerous empty homes up and down the country waiting to be put to use (ditto), and; planners and developers have no imagination (quite a generalisation).  The typical claim is that much better use should be made of 'derelict urban sites crying out for investment', and that we should be building affordable homes in the right places, rather than executive homes.