King’s Speech

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

My Lords, I too welcome the new Ministers to their roles and congratulate my noble friend Lord Fuller on his maiden speech.

I am moved to speak in this debate because, while this agenda has the ability to improve the world, if not carried out with sensitivity and balance then it also has the ability to create terrible harm. There are no simple answers to all this but “Do no harm” has to be the first principle. There is so much to cover and I am mindful of the time limit, so I hope noble Lords will forgive me for highlighting a number of points that I would have liked to have gone into in more detail. I hope they will also forgive me for the fact that by this stage of the debate some of these points have already been raised.

It does not bode well that “agriculture” is missing from the principal topics of this debate. Agriculture has always played an important part in the life of this country, and surely the impact of the Ukraine conflict has demonstrated that it is prudent to produce as much of our own food as possible. Currently we import around 40%. Travelled food is bad for the environment. Growing our own has the benefit of food security, a lower carbon footprint and supply-chain resilience, as well as supporting local businesses and biodiversity. It is a no-brainer.

We need to support our farmers, as others have said. As Jeremy Clarkson has illustrated, farming is not an easy profession. We must ensure that the post-Brexit subsidies work and that farmers are able to make a reasonable living. It is not an easy profession to enter and you cannot switch farming on and off, but it is vital for this country’s food.

We are lucky to live in a country with truly beautiful countryside. We are the custodians of the countryside for future generations and, while I know the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, will not like this statement, once it is concreted over we will never get it back. In the pursuit of a quick fix on housing numbers, please do not be tempted to tamper with the green belt, because it is there for a purpose.

Our countryside provides jobs, tourism and a way of life that we need to look after. As we have already heard, green spaces positively affect mental health and well-being. While we all understand the pressing importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there are enormous risks associated with moving to a system based too much on electricity that a more diverse energy mix can mitigate. Overreliance on electricity exposes the country to geopolitical risks and supply-chain disruptions, making us very vulnerable. Of course we need energy from renewable sources but currently they are intermittent, leading to inconsistent supply. To create large-scale battery storage requires mining significant resources, including rare earth materials, which has negative environmental and geopolitical implications in turn.

I am afraid I was disappointed by the announcement of 7,000 acres of solar farm in Suffolk because not only are solar farms unsightly but they take up significant space, adversely affecting ecosystems and, in this case, taking land out of food production. Solar first needs to be put on roofs. The Government say they are going to treble solar production, but what assessment have they made of how much can be placed on buildings already in situ?

Wind farms also need to be carefully placed. They are visually intrusive, diminish natural beauty and can cause habitat destruction. Their noise impacts on quality of life, as well as posing a threat to birdlife and bats. All this leads to our putting wind farms offshore wherever possible.

When debating climate change, we talk a lot about cows and cars. However, we need to be honest: we never talk about construction. Steel and concrete are major causes of climate change so, first, we need to stop unnecessary construction. There is much redevelopment that does not need to happen, with buildings torn down needlessly instead of being repurposed—the lovely art deco M&S building in Oxford Street, for example. We can all have some responsibility for this. In the way that we have all got on board with recycling, we need to get on board with considering the carbon cost of our own housing developments and refurbishments.

Many areas now experience seasonal water shortages, as other noble Lords have brought up. Will the Minister insist that every new building has a provision to collect and store storm-water and recycle in grey-water systems, as is done in other countries?

We all recognise that there is a need for more housing, but can we pause for a moment and consider some of the causes for that shortage? Population increase contributes to the problem. I know that this is an emotive issue but last year over 700,000 people, who will need roughly a quarter of a million houses, came to this country. At the other end of the scale, much of the residential property in central London is owned by wealthy foreigners, pushing prices well beyond the reach of most British people and, in effect, doughnutting our capital city of our settled population. No wonder there is such a housing crisis, especially in the south-east and London.

Surely what we need to build is beautiful, sustainable housing that people will look at in 200 years’ time and think it attractive. Most of what has been built this century has been low-quality and badly designed. Unsightly housing can create visual pollution, negatively impacting communities and does not always last. Meanwhile, the developers make huge amounts of money out of it. Housing should not be left solely in the hands of the developers or the planners who will be working to meet targets. Will the Minister support the idea of an expert adviser to ensure that design and suitability is important?

We need to listen to and work with local communities, and build homes with local materials in styles that will blend in and enhance the neighbourhood, fitting smaller developments into towns and villages in a way that creates cohesion and enhances communities. As others will have read in the briefing, experience already shows us that a reliance on new towns often underdelivers. Development needs to meet true tests of local need, and accusing people of nimbyisim simply creates conflict. Ensuring that local communities are involved from the early stages is vital to bring them with you. We need to ensure that development has strong environmental requirements, takes into account good aesthetic design and has the supporting infrastructure required to ensure a seamless, functional fit while not creating more problems down the line.

Food security and energy security are integral in helping to secure our national security. We must look at the causes as well as the effects that we are seeking to address. We need to support our farming community and work with local communities to develop neighbourhoods that will be cherished for many generations to come, not just box-tick targets.