English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Louie French Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Commons Chamber

I now turn to Lords amendment 89B on prioritising brownfield sites for development. The concern that we as an Opposition are setting out clearly is that, taken alongside many of the other changes to the planning system that the Government are introducing, there is a risk that at the end of this Parliament—the end of this period—we will see a significant increase in the number of greenfield sites that have planning consent. We will not see what we all say cross-party that we want to see, which is a significant amount of our housing target being delivered on brownfield sites that are brought back into use for residential purposes. Particularly with the powers for mayors to drive forward development that the Bill brings in, it is critical that we ensure brownfield land is prioritised to manage the risk of the easy wins being prioritised over the ones that are most effective in delivering housing targets. We already see that in some mayoral authorities.

[Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)]

The point that my hon. Friend is making is a very accurate description of what is happening in my local area of Bexley, where developers are trying to argue that greenfield sites are now ripe for development because of the Government’s planning changes. Does he share my concern that the Government are continuing to try to barge those changes through this House, and that both Reform and Labour support the Government’s position on the grey belt, which will have a detrimental effect on our local community and our natural environment?

[David Simmonds]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. People in Old Bexley and Sidcup—just like those in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner and, indeed, in many of the constituencies that are represented by Conservative Members—are concerned about a Reform party that is championing tearing up the green belt across our capital in pursuit of housing targets, and about the ambiguity that has been created by the Government’s position on grey-belt land. That description seems to be applied to any site on which a developer can argue that housing could be delivered because it has had some previous use. That level of ambiguity is another one of the reasons why we are keen to make the very strong case for brownfield being enshrined as the priority, and for the Government to accept that case.

I will now turn briefly to the Lords amendments dealing with the leader and cabinet model of local government. To be clear, as an Opposition, we do not have a strong view about what governance arrangements town halls should choose. Many of us will have had experience under the committee system or under the leader and cabinet model, some with executive mayors. However, the reason why we intend to push the Government on this issue is that it once again represents their centralising tendency—a view in Whitehall that the Government know best what structures should be used. I happen to agree with Ministers that the leader and cabinet model is the most effective and efficient model, but it is not for us to tell locally elected officials and councillors what arrangements they should make.