On Wednesday, Richard secured a Westminster Hall debate on the effect of house building targets on his constituency of North East Bedfordshire.
Speaking after the debate, Richard Fuller MP said:
Getting an appointment with a GP or securing a place at the local school are amongst the most common concerns raised with me by constituents, but there is another, connected issue, that ranks top: the pace of new housing development in Bedfordshire.
So I was pleased that the Speaker granted my request for a debate with the Housing Minister so I could raise questions and concerns ahead of the forthcoming Planning Act.
The Minister did assure me that the ridiculous “one million homes” target set by Labour peer, Lord Adonis, no longer held sway in the government. I was pleased the Minister confirmed he shared my view that planning changes must enhance involvement by local residents not shut them out.
I secured the Minister’s assurance that protection of our local bio diversity and access to green spaces will be required earlier in planning consents than at present. Most importantly the Minister confirmed the Conservative election pledge to provide “infrastructure first” in the form of health and education services being ahead of new house builds.
The minister agreed to meet with officials in the education and health departments to prepare a specific review for North East Bedfordshire. I await this with interest.
During the debate, Richard also raised the question of East West Rail and whether the project was underpinned by commitments to increased house building across the constituency and specifically the route chosen. Richard also reiterated his concerns about how the consultation process has been handled and the apparent lack of scrutiny and oversight by the local authority.
Richard also raised the question of the provision of GP services and presented figures to show that the numbers of GPs per patient in North East Bedfordshire was far below the national average, highlighting the concerns raised to him by residents across the constituency from Arlesey and Stotfold, to Biggleswade and Sandy and from Harrold and Sharnbrook about how difficult it is to access GP services, irrespective of the impact of Covid.
Richard said:
I reiterated that we stood on a manifesto promise of delivering 'infrastructure first' in respect of the likes of school places and GP services prior to commencing housing developments, and asked for a commitment to 'infrastructure first' going forward, and a review by the Education and Health Departments of the current situation.
During the debate, Richard also raised the issue of the importance of involving local communities more deeply and at an earlier stage in the planning of new housing developments in their towns and villages.
Richard said:
I urged the Minister to make community engagement a key pillar of his Planning Bill and cited concerns from residents and Parish Councillors in Potton, Upper Caldecote, Everton and Harrold that the democratic process in this respect needs to be improved.
You can view the entire debate which covers the huge scale of house building in North East Bedfordshire, the connection between East West Rail and housing commitments, and the importance of local community participation in the planning process, together with the Minister's responses here.