Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Russell Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

I very much welcome that. It is important that some authorities are being proactive in the way in which they handle their planning system and engage with the new homes bonus. We have a shared ambition to overturn something that has happened for the past 15 or 20 years. I wish sometimes that Labour would be a little more positive about it.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

In the context of housing starts, does the Minister agree that planners and developers of grotesque schemes such as the proposed 1,600-homes estate in my constituency to be accessed by a 1 mile cul-de-sac should be forced to live there for a minimum of five years as a condition of any planning consent?

[Mr Prisk]

The safest answer for me to give is that that is a novel idea. I will reflect on it in due course.