Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bob Ainsworth and Grant Shapps
Grant Shapps
The hon. Lady says that it is not working, but we have already seen an increase in the number of homes planned and starting to be built.
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East) (Lab)
The Ansty technology park is in Rugby and the Government announced on Friday that they would sell it off. That was an important job-creation opportunity brought into existence by the old regional development agency which was scrapped by the Government. Would it not be preposterous if Rugby gained from the new homes bonus through developing such a site for housing?
Grant Shapps
The new homes bonus is entirely flexible to allow local authorities to decide how the cash that comes in is spent—those hundreds of millions of pounds being distributed today—so that they can take it and use it for their own objectives. There is a conversation to be held locally rather than nationally about how that money is used in Rugby.