As you will all know, I have been clear on my views that our Green Belt must be protected; and that any planning applications on this land, that do not have community consent, should be rejected.
Last week, the Government confirmed the mandatory house-building target for the Sevenoaks district as 1,149 homes a year. This is an increase of 63% on the previous target, which I had opposed, and means building more homes than the size of the Sevenoaks Quarry site, every single year. Its madness.
Whilst Labour talk about building on the “Grey Belt”, the definition they are using now means that Green Belt land which was previously protected when it could be shown its role was to “safeguard the countryside from encroachment” will now be opened up to development.
It is of course imperative that we build homes for local people, we must also protect the Green Belt, and ensure new homes come with the right infrastructure for communities living here. I will work closely with our local councillors to fight this new target at every stage.
