A PETITION has been launched demanding that the Government build houses on brownfield land first and bring empty homes back into use amid fears about the potential ‘destruction’ of Bromsgrove’s greenbelt.
The Parliamentary petition has been launched by Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas as part of his campaign to prevent homes being built on green belt land in the district.
Mr Thomas claims the constituency’s housing target has been increased by 85 per cent from the government, while at the same time reducing Birmingham’s target by 31 per cent – despite the city having at least 140 hectares of brownfield land that could be built on.
He previously launched a Parliamentary petition, signed by more than 5,000 people, that demanded the Government justify the flawed formula used to calculate Bromsgrove’s housing target increases.
According to the latest ‘State of Brownfield 2025’ report from the CPRE, there is enough brownfield land capacity in England to support a minimum of 1.41 million new homes, of which 55 per cent already have full or in-principle planning permission.
There are also more than 1 million empty homes in England.
Mr Thomas’s petition calls on the Government to set out a strategy to bring these properties back into long-term use.
The petition also demands that, when houses are built in the right locations, they should only be built when the accompanying infrastructure is provided.
Mr Thomas said: “According to the CPRE, there’s enough brownfield land in England alone to build 1.41 million homes on. That should be the Government’s priority.
“Instead, they’re pursuing a policy to help their friends in the cities whilst punishing rural Britain.
“There’s just so much more the Government could be doing rather than building on our greenbelt.
“They could bring the more than 1 million empty homes in England back into use or scrap Stamp Duty to free up the housing market.
“It just doesn’t have to be this way, and I won’t stop until this Government wakes up, sees sense and reverses their 85 per cent increase in our housebuilding target, which will destroy our precious greenbelt as we know it.”
Visit bradleythomas.org.uk/campaigns/build-brownfield-first-and-bring-empty-homes-back-use to sign the petition.
