Ellie Chowns, Green Party spokesperson on Housing and Communities
The Green Party has welcomed a decision by ministers to axe arbitrary house building targets LINK and have called for future housing development to be led by affordability, quality and environmental standards.
Green Party spokesperson on Housing and Communities, Ellie Chowns, who is also a Cabinet Member on Herefordshire Council, said:
Councils of all political colours have pushed back against unrealistic top-down housing targets, which have taken decision-making away from local authorities and ignored the views of local people. And where targets have been missed, it has allowed developers to get away with lower quality housing that is less sustainable and less affordable.
It’s time to rebuild a housing strategy that takes powers away from central government and the giant house builders funnelling money into Tory Party coffers and give councils the power to set their own housing targets to meet the needs of local populations. We need the focus of future development to be on building genuinely affordable housing that is good for local people while helping to tackle the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency.
We certainly do need thousands more new homes but the priority should be on homes for social rent, built to the highest environmental standards so they dramatically cut energy bills and carbon emissions. We also need to prioritise building on brownfield sites and preserve our precious green spaces which are good for public health and for nature.
All new housing must also be served by high quality walking and cycling routes and much improved public transport services.
