Oral Answers to Questions

Laura Trott Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Christopher Pincher]

I think that a target of reducing emissions by 75% from 2025 is ambitious. It is very clear that the more stringent targets we are setting mean that it may not be necessary for councils to set different local standards. We have had a consultation, which closed on 7 February. More than 3,000 submissions were made to the consultation from big builders to think-tanks to local authorities, and we shall certainly be listening to that and taking it into account.

[Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to increase the supply of housing to meet demand.

[James Grundy (Leigh) (Con)]

21. What steps he is taking to increase the supply of housing to meet demand.

[Laura Trott]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. Can he reassure the House that this very welcome house building will not come at the expense of green belt, especially in Sevenoaks?

[Robert Jenrick]

We recognise how highly many people value their local green belt, including no doubt my hon. Friend’s constituents in Sevenoaks, but meeting these legitimate aspirations must not mean that the acute housing needs of communities go unmet or the dream of the next generation to get a place of their own goes unfulfilled. Local communities wishing to preserve the green belt sustainably must therefore meet local housing needs in other ways: through gentle density, through reimagining town centres and through aggressively redeveloping brownfield land. I intend to encourage each of those.