The West of England’s environment is one of its greatest assets and research over many years has repeatedly confirmed that a key factor in the area’s economic and social success in attracting inward investment and inward migration of jobs has been the high quality of environment that it offers.

The desire to retain this quality of environment features strongly in the West of England Partnership’s Vision 2026, "South West Regional Integrated Strategy 2004 to 2026 - Just Connect SWRA".

However, the South West Regional Environment Strategy, "Our Environment, Our Future", recognises that the environment in the South West is under pressure, for example, loss of habitats and green spaces, declines in wildlife, damage to landscapes and historic sites, increasing demands for natural resources such as water and energy, and poor local environmental quality such as graffiti, litter, and loss of tranquillity. 

In addition, the rapid growth and the potential scale and pace of development proposed for the West of England in the Regional Spatial Strategy means that the Sub Region faces increasing pressure on its infrastructure.  In October 2006, the West of England  was named as a “New Growth Point” by the Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government. 

The New Growth Points initiative is designed to provide support to local communities who wish to pursue large scale and sustainable growth outside of the Growth Areas (four areas in the South East of England where additional growth is being managed in a sustainable way), including new housing, through a partnership with Government.  In total 29 local authorities and partnerships covering 45 towns and cities were named as New Growth Points with a wide regional spread covering the East and West Midlands, the East, South East and South West of England.  Of the 2,000,000 new homes that are to be delivered by 2016, a total of 100,000 additional homes are intended for New Growth Points, an increase of around 32 percent on previous plans for housing supply in these areas.