Under Labour’s building targets, the countryside to the north of Lichfield must accept 5,000 new buildings in the next few years. Nearly all will have to be built on the countryside permanently scarring the County.

Michael Fabricant says: "A Conservative Government will abolish Staffordshire’s building targets within the first few weeks of taking office.

"If local people do not want new towns built on their countryside, like the 5,000 proposed around Lichfield and the surrounding villages, they simply will not happen under the Conservatives. Forcing local communities to construct more buildings on the countryside will permanently scar the face of farmland in the south of Staffordshire. While the Government wants to cover our rural heritage with bricks and mortar, Conservatives will
restore local control to local people.

"The countryside and country life is being torn apart by this Government" adds Michael Fabricant. "The Conservative Party is announcing a ten-point plan which consists of practical policies to improve living standards and protect the traditional way of life for people in the west midlands. I believe that local people, not Whitehall pen-pushers or regional bureaucrats know best."

Archie Norman MP, Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, today pledged to abolish John Prescott’s regional and national house building targets when he is elected into government to save rural England from disappearing under layers of concrete. Other policies in the ten-point plan include measures to axe red-tape on farmers, take back our fishing rights, provide new funding for tourism for cities like Lichfield, and reduce business rates for vital rural shops, pubs and post offices.