We need the right homes in the right places

AS the local MP, I have always championed building the right homes in the right places for local people.

This has included the protection of our Green Belt countryside, promoting brownfield regeneration and ensuring the necessary investment in community infrastructure, like health and education.

Most recently, I have been campaigning in support of residents concerned about a recent planning application seeking to build around 150 houses in the Green Belt in Hanham.

It serves as an example that we should avoid across the constituency – a speculative application that would lead to urban sprawl, environmental damage and minimal investment into local services and facilities.

The developer’s plans appear to be a result of the West of England Combined Authority’s welldocumented attempt last year to force South Gloucestershire to build 37,000 more houses – 10,000 more than government figures suggest is needed to meet local demand.

The Green Belt countryside around the Kingswood constituency was earmarked for many thousands of new houses.

Whilst South Gloucestershire Council blocked this plan from the combined authority, the development industry were busy snapping up the land needed to meet the combined authority’s damaging target.

They are trying their luck in putting their plans in before the council’s new local plan is published later this summer, which I hope will re-confirm the importance of protecting the Green Belt.

I commend the work of Green Belt groups, campaigners and local councillors in helping to raise awareness in our local communities.

Building more homes here without the necessary investment in services and infrastructure will just pile pressure onto already-stretched facilities.

When it comes to building the homes, jobs and infrastructure we need for local people, we should prioritise brownfield development and urban regeneration.

That’s why the regeneration of Kingswood town centre and sites like Kleeneze in Hanham, the old Grange site in Warmley and parts of the Gallagher Retail Park – to name just a few - are so important. We shouldn’t see our precious green fields concreted over when empty or underused brownfield sites remain in the area, which could provide the new affordable homes and high quality jobs we so desperately need for a prosperous and zero-carbon future.