28/12/2006
Letters
Empty office sites could be made available for housingEmpty office sites could be made available for housing
Surrey Heath MP Michael Gove has helpfully clarified his support for giving priority to using brownfield land for housing.
Before this clarification, I wrote to Mr Gove urging priority be given to solving the problem whereby it makes economic sense for the owners of office blocks to allow them to remain empty — if need be, in perpetuity.
Camberley is a prime example of empty office brownfield blight in the heart of a town, particularly along Pembroke Broadway, Knoll Road and London Road.
I suggested that Camberley would provide an ideal case for an objective academic study of a town’s recent office block ‘history’, the present level of occupied and unoccupied blocks, the rational expectation in respect of future tenancies, and the economic consequences for the town of the present, and of continuing, blight.
Such a study might lead to nationally-applicable conclusions, including the possibility of legislation to facilitate the release of such brownfield land for housing. I presume that, with Mr Gove’s support, Surrey Heath Borough Council would participate constructively in such a study.
A J Greenstreet
Firwood Drive
Camberley First printed in:
Aldershot News and Mail
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