Today Maria Miller, MP for Basingstoke questioned the Prime Minister on the Local Inspectors decision to throw out plans for around 3000 houses in Basingstoke and the surrounding villages because local communities couldn’t cope with the scale of the building plans. But when pressed, The Prime Minister said his priority for Basingstoke was house building above all else.
After questioning the Prime Minister Maria said, “We need new homes for families in our area but at the moment the Borough is trying to keep the Government happy by building more houses than we really need each year but, as the local inspector has warned, they are not improving services at the same rate. I am shocked that in his answer to me today the PM so openly disregarded the problems highlighted in the Local Inspectors Report. House building and improving local services like roads, sewage systems and public transport need to go hand in hand. Today the PM made it perfectly clear to the people of Basingstoke that it is his intention to force local Councils like ours to cram more and more houses into our town, onto our green fields and into our villages continuing to overload our communities and undermine the quality of life of local residents”.
“The Local Plan Report makes it clear that the Borough Council’s plans for Manydown, German Road in Bramley and Razors Farm in Chineham are “unsustainable” and was damning about the lack of thought given to the improvements needed to roads, public transport sewage treatment”.
“I believe we have to stand up to the Government NOW. House building levels should be set locally based on local need and based on how much money there is to improve local roads, schools and medical facilities”.
“In light of the Inspectors report and the Prime Ministers response today I have written to the Leader of Basingstoke and Dean Borough Council calling for him to join me in condemning the Prime Ministers irresponsible attitude to house building in Basingstoke and to undertake a complete review of the future house building plans for our town and villages. Basingstoke Borough Council is being sold down the river by this Government and they have to wake up to the crisis our community is facing”.
Hansard - https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo051123/debtex…
Q5. [30883] Mrs. Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con): Last week, the local inspector threw out plans for 3,000 houses in Basingstoke because he felt that local communities could not cope with the scale of building. Is it not time for the Government to stop dumping thousands of houses on Basingstoke and the rest of the south-east and to let local councils plan the future of their towns and villages?
The Prime Minister: No, I do not agree with the hon. Lady. It is important to ensure that we build enough houses in this country so that people, especially younger people, can access affordable housing. We try to do that in a planned way, but for the Conservative party to pretend that no new houses need to be built in the south at all is absurd.
