PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Planning Reform: Fiscal Steps - 3 September 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)
Debate Detail
Contributions from Darren Jones, are highlighted with a yellow border.
Alice Macdonald
Norwich North
11:38:59
Darren Jones
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We have committed ourselves to delivering 1.5 million new homes as part of our mission to achieve economic growth across the country, and we have already announced reforms of national planning policy that will help to get Britain building. They include the reintroduction of mandatory housing targets, and the removal of the effective ban on onshore wind in England.
11:39:02
Alice Macdonald
If unlocked, Anglia Square, a significant brownfield site in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis), could provide more than 1,000 homes and many jobs. The last Government failed to support the progression of this important site. Can my right hon. Friend tell me what local authorities such as Norwich city council can expect from this Government’s approach to delivering brownfield sites with partners?
Darren Jones
I thank my hon. Friend for her follow-up question and welcome her to her place. As she knows from the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister, this Government take seriously our target to deliver 1.5 million new homes, and we will look at each and every opportunity across the country to do so. That includes making improvements to the system of developer contributions for community benefit to support the delivery of affordable housing and local infrastructure.
Andrew George
St Ives
The Minister knows that the planning system is built on the ability to make millionaires at the stroke of a pen as a result of passing planning permission, which does not necessarily result in developments that are in the best interests of a local community. Surely there is more that the Government can do to ensure that we tip the planning system towards meeting need, rather than greed.
Darren Jones
The issue of so-called hope value was referenced in the Labour party’s manifesto, and the Government will set out further detail in due course.
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