Localism Bill

Alec Shelbrooke Excerpts

Monday 17th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Communities in his constituency and mine have faced these problems time and again.

In Leeds, the previous Government’s regional spatial strategy doubled the target for house building from around 2,500 a year to more than 4,500 every year. At that level, we would have created the equivalent of a new parliamentary constituency within a decade, which would have been completely unsustainable. These targets resulted in not only the brownfield sites in our communities being built on, but a significant threat to the greenfield sites. Time and again, developers came forward with plans for more building. In recent years, permission has been granted for thousands of new homes in Guiseley, but little investment has been made in the infrastructure to cope with so many new residents.

[Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the previous Government’s push to allow greenfield sites to be used for housing completely undermined the regeneration in cities such as Leeds?

[Stuart Andrew]

That is an incredibly valid point. I shall say more in a moment about the problems experienced by the city of Leeds.