Oral Answers to Questions

David Williams Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

The right hon. Gentleman will be aware, since he was a member of the previous Government, that house building across the country collapsed in 2023-24, and they chose to do nothing. This month the social and affordable homes programme opens for bids. London will get 30% of that, worth more than £11 billion, and that will help to provide the biggest increase in social and affordable homes in London and across the country that this country has seen.

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

T5. I support the Government’s plans to build 1.5 million homes, and families and first-time buyers in Stoke-on-Trent and Kidsgrove really need them. Residents from Packmoor, Ball Green, Norton Green and Talke understand that too, but does the Minister agree that development should be brownfield first, protecting green space wherever possible, and backed by the investment in infrastructure that our communities need and deserve?

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)]

I can give my hon. Friend the assurances he seeks, and I encourage him and his constituents to engage with proposals in the consultation on a revised national planning policy framework that seek further to strengthen support for brownfield development and ensure that appropriate infrastructure provision comes forward alongside that development.