Environmental campaigners in Dorset welcome Labour’s plans 'to get Britain building again'
Dorset CPRE are calling on government to prioritise building affordable homes in rural communities
Environmental campaigners in Dorset have supported Labour’s plans to build on brownfield and Greyfield land.
The new government has announced their plan to build 1.5 million homes by the end of parliament in 2029.
Jez Hughes, Vice Chair of Dorset CPRE, told us: “We have a lot of brownfield sites available and we need to be building small scale developments on these bits of land rather than big housing developments.
“This is an appropriate way to meet the housing needs of local communities because that land is being underused.”
Labour’s plan to tackle the need for more homes across the UK involves an injection of more affordable and council homes.
Jez Hughes welcomed the comment as he noted that there had been a “lack of action” around building genuinely affordable homes over the years.
He said: “We need to get the government backing social housing providers and developers so that they prioritise building affordable homes.
“What we need to make of is that people in rural communities, who want to stay living locally, can afford to buy a home in their community.”
New chancellor, Rachel Reeves said Labour will create a new taskforce "to accelerate stalled housing sites in our country".
The UK's first ever female chancellor promised to support local authorities with 300 additional planning officers across the country as well as “reform the planning system”.
But “reforms to the planning system” have left some fearful it may lead to government taking “shortcuts” to hurry developments.
Jez Hughes said: “Getting things through the process more quickly makes sense, but you shouldn't shortcut the process.
“The interests of the local community, need to be addressed, and the concerns about protecting the countryside, need to be addressed.
“We need to make sure that in accelerating plans we still make the right decision and it doesn’t lead to the destruction of areas of natural beauty.”
According to Ms Reeves, ‘mandatory housing targets’ will return and it'll be up to local communities to decide where the housing is built, under one condition that “it has to be built.”