Mixed reactions to Sustainable Communities Plan

The Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Prescott MP has unveiled the first phase of his sustainable communities plan.

Mr Prescott said: 'This marks the start of the process of turning Europe's largest collection of brownfield sites into living, breathing communities where people are proud to belong.'

This will begin in five locations: Greenwich, Woolwich, Barking Reach, Thurrock and North Kent-Thameside.

Once complete, the Thames Gateway alone is set to benefit from the generation of 180,000 new jobs and 120,000 new houses. The announcement has been warmly received by the House Builders Federation, and local councillors in the area.

Cllr Chris Ball, leader of Bexley Council said: 'This is a massive boost for the borough and the start of some very exciting times. These projects are just the tip of the iceberg and form part of the overall vision for revitalising the Thames Gateway'.

The Deputy PM believes that the plans will ease pressure on London, and solve the shortage of affordable housing - particularly for key workers.

The plans, have, however, come under fire from a number of different quarters. Conservative shadow Deputy Prime Minister, David Davis MP, said that the plans would lead to a creation of 'dormitory towns - to the detriment of the quality of life for local residents'. A thought echoed by the CPRE, which has campaigned against Prescott's plans since they were first announced.

Environmentalists are also frightened about the impact on Green Belt land and warn that the ' Garden of England' could turn into a concrete jungle.

Mr Prescott, however insists that it is essential to develop on brownfield land in this area and rubbishes suggestions that people could be relocated to the north, where properties lie vacant.

Mr Prescott's plans are far reaching, and the announcement is just the initial phase of their implementation. Other areas set to receive similar cash injections are Milton Keynes, Dartford and the M11 Cambridge area.

Critics have argued that the announcement offered nothing more than the speech Mr Prescott made to the House of Commons in February. The Daily Telegraph pointed to the fact that no extra money was being promised. Nevertheless, it does reinforce the Deputy Prime Minister's commitment to the policy.

E-voting one step closer

Much is made of the decline in voter interest in elections. Turnout has been falling consistently. Voter apathy with regard to local and European elections is particularly high - so that a 30 per cent turnout is now deemed a success.

There is a real need to address this problem, and to this end, politicians and the Electoral Commission have looked at ways of involving the public more in the political process.

As part of this exercise, The Electoral Commission has published 'The shape of elections to come', an evaluation of pilot schemes involving all-postal votes, electronic and text message voting, and different voting times and locations.

The traditional approach of wandering down to one's polling station on the day of the election does not fit in with the demands of modern society and so other methods are sought.

The most commonly used alternative scheme is postal voting. All-postal voting is shown to increase turnout, with 49% in the pilots compared with 35% over the whole of England. The Commission has recommended that local authorities use all-postal votes unless there is a reason not to do so. However, voting in advance means that the electorate cannot change its mind closer to the date of the election. It is clear that this is not the only way forward.

The Commission also therefore recommended that the various electronic voting trials should be continued whilst procedures and security are tightened, and technical issues resolved.

E-voting is seen as innovative. It embraces modern technology and sits well with the way in which society is heading. The other benefit it brings is that the young - who traditionally vote in fewer and fewer numbers - are better and more easily enfranchised by this method.

Despite the fears about security and multiple voting, it seems as though the politicians are set, at least to give e-voting a go. Whether or not it succeeds will depend partly on whether this is tough on apathy or tough on the causes of apathy. The fear is - people fail to vote not because it is inconvenient to do so, but because they simply do not want to.