Mims Davies
Main Page: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Brandon Lewis
I appreciate that the right hon. Gentleman feels strongly about this, no doubt against the background of his interests in the housing association he is involved with.
I gently point out to the right hon. Gentleman that he has made it very clear where the Labour party stands on the issue. Lord Prescott himself made it clear that he did not know what aspiration was. I suspect, from what the right hon. Gentleman has said, that he probably still harks back to his statement to the Fabian Society, in which he spoke about the drop in home ownership since 2012 being no bad thing. We think that it is, and we want to support people who want to own their own home. I am disappointed that he does not support aspiration.
Mims Davies (Eastleigh) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend agree that constructing a local plan where one did not exist in areas such as my constituency of Eastleigh is of paramount importance in delivering home ownership while protecting green spaces and in committing to the strongest sanctions on councils that fail to do this properly by embracing localism and providing locally based community planning?
Brandon Lewis
All housing association tenants will share my view, and my hon. Friend’s, that the best way for communities to have their say is to have a local plan and, even better, neighbourhood plans. I encourage her authority to listen to her and get on with putting its local plan in place.