Weston’s MP John Penrose has welcomed news the Government will drop proposals to increase North Somerset’s housebuilding targets from 1,365 to 1,708 a year.
This announcement comes just months after John wrote to Ministers raising concerns that the proposed new housebuilding targets were unrealistic and weeks after John and Liam Fox raised the issue in a debate on housebuilding in North Somerset. John made the point that the algorithm being used encouraged environmentally damaging housebuilding over green fields rather than investment and regeneration in urban areas.
John said: “It’s great that the Government has listened to what I, Liam Fox, North Somerset Council and others have been saying. This is a big step in the right direction, although the existing building targets are still pretty high. But if we Build Up Not Out in urban areas like central Weston or Bristol, and use local Council-approved Design Codes so the new builds match the best of what’s already here, we can build a lot more green, good-looking homes that local people can afford, that are close to work, transport-links, shops, schools and GP surgeries, and which revive our town centres and High Streets too.”