Shropshire MP clashes with Rayner over housing plans

Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, voiced concerns that the Government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill will mean people in Shifnal, Albrighton and Bratton will be denied a voice on proposals to build new houses in the area.

The Bill, which seeks to make it easier for developers by streamlining the planning process, received its second reading in the House of Commons this week.

But Mr Pritchard, who is backing residents who opposed to 800 new homes planned for Albrighton, said it would undermine local authorities that were best placed to decide on the scale, location and character of any new housing developments.

Proposing the Bill, Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said the Bill was critical to achieving economic growth, higher living standards and a more secure future. She said it would aid the construction of 1.5 million homes during the current parliament.

But Mr Pritchard responded: "I gently say to the Secretary of State that none of my constituents is saying, 'In Shropshire, we don’t need any more homes. We don’t want any more homes.'

"They just want to be consulted. They want the homes in the right place, at the right scale, with the right architecture and in the right numbers. They want their voices listened to through a local plan — not ignored, as the current government are doing."

Mrs Rayner responded by saying it was Labour that introduced compulsory local plans.

"For too long we have left home ownership to collapse, with homelessness soaring and over 160,000 children in temporary accommodation," she said. "This is a country that simply is not working."

She said the length of time it took to deliver major infrastructure projects had almost doubled over the past 10 years, and now took an average of more than four years.

"The result of such delays has been fewer homes built, higher energy bills, and lower productivity and growth," Mrs Rayner.

Boningale Homes has applied to build 800 homes on 117 acres of farmland between Newhouse Lane, Cross Road and the A464 near Lea Manor.

More than 3,700 people have signed a petition against the development, but the developer said the land qualified as 'grey belt' under the government's proposed framework, and the plan should be approved.

Speaking to the Star afterwards, Mr Pritchard said the Government's plans to create a so-called 'grey belt' of second-tier green-belt land would lead to the loss of valuable green space.

"No-one is completely against new housing, but they do object to their views being totally ignored, and new housing being built in the wrong place and in the wrong numbers," he said.

"Shifnal, Albrighton, Bratton and many other places in the Wrekin area, could see a disproportionate increase in housing development.

"Green belt should not be re-designated grey belt just as a ruse to bulldoze over Shropshire's green and open space."