Bradley Thomas MP seized the opportunity at Andy Burnham’s first PMQs to ask the Prime Minister to work with him to “find a new path forward” to protect Bromsgrove and the Village’s greenbelt.
Back in July, Bradley wrote to the new Prime Minister on his first day in 10 Downing Street to urge him to reverse the “disastrous” 85% increase in Bromsgrove and the Village’s housing target.
Whist increasing Bromsgrove and the Village’s housing target, Keir Starmer’s government reduced Birmingham’s target by 31% – despite the city having at least 140 hectares of brownfield land that could be built on.
Bradley has been fighting back ever since.
He launched a Parliamentary petition, signed by more than 5,000 people, that demanded the Government justifies the flawed formula used to calculate the 85% increase in Bromsgrove and the Villages’ housing target and to rebalance the housing target so that Birmingham takes its fair share. The Government refused to listen and continued to be unable to justify the flawed formula used to calculate the constituency’s housing target.
Following the petition, Bradley also met with the Housing and Planning Minister to once again make the case for the 85% increase to be reversed. At the meeting, the Housing and Planning Minister continued to attempt to justify the Government’s decision to increase the housing target by 85%.
His efforts to save the greenbelt didn’t stop there. In Parliament, Bradley voted to prioritise development on brownfield sites first in order to protect the greenbelt. However, the vote failed to pass after the Government used its majority to vote it down.
Although the vote failed, Bradley isn’t stopping there. His fight to protect the greenbelt continues with another Parliamentary petition that demands the Government builds houses on brownfield land first.
According to the latest “State of Brownfield 2025” report from the CPRE, there is enough brownfield land capacity in England to support a minimum of 1.41 million new homes, of which 55% already have full or in-principle planning permission. That should be the Government’s priority. Instead, they’re pursuing a policy to help their friends in the cities whilst punishing rural Britain.
There are also more than 1 million empty homes in England. Bradley’s petition calls on the Government to set out a strategy to bring these properties back into long-term use.
The petition also demands that, when houses are built in the right locations, they should only be built when the accompanying infrastructure is provided.
In his letter to the new Prime Minister, Bradley asked Andy Burnham to work with him on his common-sense housebuilding policy.
Bradley received a response last month, but not from the Prime Minister. He failed to acknowledge it and palmed it off to his Housing Minister who then palmed it off to a civil servant in his Department.
Having been successful in the draw to the ask the Prime Minister a question at his first PMQs yesterday (September 2nd), Bradley used the opportunity to ask Andy Burnham to meet with him to discuss a “new path forward.”
In response to Bradley’s question, the Prime Minister said: “It is about getting a balance, isn’t it? Yes, we need to protect greenbelt where we can, but we also need to build the homes that people need, and it is about striking a balance. In Greater Manchester, I always took a brownfield-first approach, and that is what I will do. I have asked the Chancellor to work with my Cabinet colleagues to release more public land so that we can build more homes on brownfield land, but I understand the concerns that the Honourable Member is raising. I will ask the Housing Minister to meet him, to see if we can further build some common cause, but there is a balance to be struck. I say to the party opposite that it is important that they do not turn their face away from building the new homes this country needs.”
Bradley said: “The Prime Minister pledged to protect the greenbelt in his own constituency, but that pledge doesn’t appear to apply elsewhere in the country.
“That being said, I’m still keen to work with him to find a new path forward to protect our greenbelt by adopting my common-sense housebuilding policy, which is build on brownfield land first, bring empty homes back into use and provide communities with infrastructure first before any houses are built.
“It was therefore disappointing that the Prime Minister offered me another meeting with the same Housing Minister who continues to defend Labour’s disastrous 85% housing target increase across Bromsgrove and the Villages.
“However, in answer to my question the Prime Minister said he wants to find ‘common cause,’ so may be my next meeting with the Housing Minister will be different, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
“Meanwhile, I’ll continue the fight to change Government policy and to get the 85% increase in our housebuilding target reversed.”
Residents can sign Bradley’s brownfield first petition by visiting: www.bradleythomas.org.uk/
