Chloe Smith
Main Page: Chloe Smith (Conservative - Norwich North)
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
2. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)
4. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
10. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend makes an extremely important argument that one of the ways to revive town centres is to bring more people to live right in the heart of them. That is why we have introduced a permitted development right to make it easier to convert offices into residential property. It is also why, in the recently published planning guidance, we made it clear that councils should be looking to incentivise development on brownfield sites and reflect the cost of developing those sites.
Chloe Smith
I welcome those measures. Will the Minister join me, and indeed the Chancellor, in saying that we will not stand by and pull up the ladder of housing that the next generation needs?
Nick Boles
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. She has done a lot of work recently on the interests of the next generation—the growing generation—of people in our country. Housing need is one of those key interests. It is one of the reasons why we brought forward planning reforms, and help to buy is helping people get on the housing ladder.