Since being elected as the MP for Bracknell Constituency in 2019, I have campaigned consistently for the abolition of top-down house building targets. I am therefore delighted with the Prime Minister’s decision this week to implement new planning reforms to give communities some local control and delivering on the commitment I have made to my constituents.
Both Bracknell and Wokingham have a strong record of delivering their local plans and building the additional housing needed, but our decreasing land availability means this cannot go unchecked. The current imperative of course is to build sustainable and affordable housing to meet a growing population, but this must not be at the expense at the open spaces that we still have in Berkshire or the quality of life that we enjoy. Protection of our leisure areas, farms, woods and natural landscape remains of paramount importance and I remain clear that covering these in concrete must stop.
The planning reforms announced this week under the Levelling Up Bill will now allow local people to better protect their communities. Whilst the measures will make it easier to build sustainable housing in the right places, they will give our councils the power to say ‘no’ to unscrupulous developers and landowners, particularly when public opinion is overwhelmingly opposed to it.
It is for this reason that I do not support development at Rooks Nest Farm or in sensitive areas elsewhere across Bracknell Constituency. I was also delighted with the recent decision by the Planning Inspectorate to reject the Bloor Homes plan for Lower Sandhurst. As someone who has consistently fought against unsustainable house building in my constituency and championed the enviable corner of Berkshire in which we live, it is entirely right that we should value what we have.
There is always scope to develop brown field sites and I will continue to work with both Bracknell Forest Council and Wokingham Borough Council in challenging inappropriate planning applications wherever and whenever they emerge.
https://www.jamessunderland.org.uk/parliament/james-sunderland-supports-planning-enforcement-bill
https://www.jamessunderland.org.uk/parliament/james-sunderland-speaks-debate-queens-speech