Four months of Examination in Public hearings on the future of the South East come to an end this Friday (30 March).

Nearly 1,000 people from a wide range of organisations were invited to give their views on the South East Plan, the region's 20 year planning framework prepared by the South East England Regional Assembly and local councils. A panel of three independent planning inspectors heard evidence over 42 days of debates in Woking, Chichester, Maidstone and Reading. The South East Plan sets targets for homes, jobs and environmental protection in the region through to 2026. The panel will now consider all the evidence and is expected to publish a report to Government in summer 2007 setting out any changes it thinks may be needed to the Plan.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, Chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly, said:

"The South East Plan hearings have engaged many people and raised even more awareness of the importance of the Plan and what it takes to deliver it. The Assembly spent three years on the research and public involvement that underpins the Plan and we believe it is the right Plan for the region. Government needs to increase investment into the region if we are to deliver the Plan and maintain and improve quality of life for our eight million residents."

Topics at the hearings this week in Reading Town Hall, Reading:

• Wednesday 28 March (morning)
  Western Corridor and Blackwater Valley, focusing on infrastructure and implementation
• Wednesday 28 March (afternoon)
  Discussions on other parts of Surrey, North Hampshire, West Berkshire and Buckinghamshire
• Thursday 29 March
  Spatial Strategy, focusing on housing levels and implementation
• Friday 30 March (morning)
  Monitoring, and the review and format of the South East Plan.
  

Contacts

Lesley van Dijk, Assembly PR Executive - 01483 555223

Heather Bolton, Assembly Communications Director - 01483 555220

Notes to editors:

1. The Examination in Public programme
2. Facts and figures about the Assembly and the Examination in Public
3. The Assembly's statements
4. The South East England Regional Assembly is a partnership of councils and communitities in the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region, which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
5. SEEDA is the Government funded agency set up in 1999 responsible for the economic and social development of the South East of England - the driving force of the UK's economy.
6. The South West Regional Assembly is a partnership of councillors from all local authorities in the region and representatives of various sectors with a role in the region's economic, social and environmental well-being. It covers the area from Gloucestershire, Dorset and Wiltshire to the Isles of Scilly, and represents a population of almost five million.
7. SWRDA is the Government funded agency set up in 1999 responsible for the economic and social development of the South West of England.

Our vision is for a distinctive, outward-looking, accessible region of prosperous, sustainable communities, with a high quality of life and environment.

Last updated: 21 August 2007