During a heated meeting with representatives of the Government Office for the South West, Tobias Ellwood demanded to know to how Bournemouth can be expected to cope with an estimated 20,000 new houses without any investment in the town's infrastructure.

Representatives of the Government for the South West acknowledged that not one penny of the £865m SW budget for major road work plans in the South West will be spent in Bournemouth.

Tobias wrote to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minster in December last year raising concerns about large scale housing in Bournemouth, even though the Government has always maintained that any major developments would be accompanied by improvements to local infrastructure. This commitment is reflected in the South West Regional Assembly's 'Regional Spatial Strategy' (RSS) document. The all powerful report states that "Strategic planning authorities have identified the potential for about 25,000 dwellings within the area by 2026 coming from the three main urban areas (Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch)". Yet on the very next page it goes on to say "Investment will be made in key infrastructure to enable the achievement of the development proposed in this Policy".

Commenting on this revelation Tobias said:

"There seems little communication between the SW Regional Assembly, who are telling Bournemouth to build over 20,000 houses, and the Government Office for the South West, who hold the purse strings of almost £1billion. How can one official body tell us to build thousands of houses whilst the other denies us cash to help improve roads and transport? Bournemouth is already close to gridlock and 20,000 more homes will compound the problem further.

I challenge the SW Regional Assembly to meet its own commitment to providing infrastructure investment for areas obliged to meet these large scale housing targets. I would also ask Bournemouth Borough Council to stand firm and not agree to any targets until funds are forthcoming.

The disconnection between the SW Regional Assembly and Government Office for the South West is worrying. Both are progressively robbing power from local Councils and both are unelected, unrepresentative and increasingly unaccountable."