Protest over Labour’s tax raid on farms forces Starmer to cut short housing visit – as ministers admit Greenfield sites could be used for a DOZEN new towns under building blitz_Nhy
Protesting farmers forced Keir Starmer to cut short a visit to a housing site today – as ministers admitted Greenfield sites could be used for Labour’s building drive.
The PM had to abandon media interviews as he unveiled plans for the ‘largest house building programme since the post-war era’, with a generation of new towns.
Around a dozen tractors and agricultural vehicles blocked the road near the Eastbrook development in Milton Keynes. Musical horns could be heard blaring across the building site shortly after Sir Keir arrived.
Sir Keir told reporters back in London later that the disruption showed the problems Labour faced in reforming the country – swiping that there was a ‘choice’ between caving to farmers or funding the NHS.
‘Yes there was a protest there, and to some extent that draws out quite an important discussion that we have to have as a country,’ he said.
The Budget had to stabilise the UK’s finances, he insisted, which included ‘tough but right decisions’ on national insurance contributions for businesses and ending the inheritance tax break for farmers.
‘These are political choices, but what you can’t have is interest rates coming down, the growth we need in the economy, your waiting lists coming down, and maintain the tax break for farmers,’ he said.
‘People watching this will understand that that is a choice. They will know what they would prefer.
‘Do they want their waiting lists to come down, do they want their mortgages to come down, the economy to start working for everyone?’
Keir Starmer was unable to do media interviews about the plans on a visit to Milton Keynes this morning, as farmers staged a protest against changes to inheritance tax
Around a dozen tractors and agricultural vehicles blocked the road near the Eastbrook development
Musical horns could be heard blaring across the building site shortly after Sir Keir arrived
Farmer Richard Miles, who travelled from Welford, Northamptonshire, said: ‘We are not being listened to at all, that’s why we feel we have to come and see him in person.’
Roger Mortlock, of CPRE, the countryside charity, said: ‘If proposals for new towns are effectively extensions to existing towns, we need to rethink how they are delivered.’
Tory spokesman Victoria Atkins said: ‘We know with this Government the devil will be in the detail of their new pledge to build towns.
‘Delivering homes is important, but this must not come at the expense of local communities, nor paving over the greenbelt.’
As the car carrying the PM left the site, farmers could be heard shouting ‘just talk to us’.
The premier wants building work to begin within five years, and British construction workers to be trained up – rather than relying on foreign labour.
More than 100 potential new town locations across England have been suggested, and recommendations on which ones to pursue will be made this summer.
London, the south east, south west, and east of England had the largest number of submissions, but proposals were received from across every region of the country.
Most proposals were for urban extensions to existing towns or cities, but some of the dozen new towns set to succeed will be standalone settlements.
Ministers want each new town to have 10,000 or more homes, along with affordable housing, GP surgeries, schools and public transport.
Downing Street said the new communities would be ‘beautiful’, which Sir Keir told reporters yesterday meant ‘well-designed’, community-led properties with ‘variety’.
A minister said today that Greenfield sites will likely feature in the proposals for a host of new towns to be built across England.
Some ‘standalone’ areas of undeveloped land could be included in the recommendations of a taskforce advising the Government on its plans to push through ‘the largest housebuilding programme since the post-war era’, Matthew Pennycook suggested.
Labour has already committed to reclassifying some low-quality areas of greenbelt land such as disused car parks and abandoned industrial sites, which it calls the ‘grey’ belt.
Sir Keir Starmer suggested he would take inspiration from the King’s developments, such as Nansledan, a 540-acre extension to the seaside town of Newquay, which he visited with the monarch earlier this week (pictured)
Charles has previously spoken of the importance of new housing developments respecting the land and Nansledan as well as his community of Poundbury in Dorset (pictured) demonstrate the kind of places he believes should be created
The Government says these changes will help to deliver its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the Parliament.
Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday morning, housing minister Mr Pennycook suggested some of these areas could fall within the recommendations of the independent taskforce advising the Government on its new towns plan.
‘There will be some, I’m sure, recommended standalone greenfield sites,’ he told Sky News.
‘There will be a number of other, what are called urban extensions, but big expansions of existing towns and cities where that is appropriate.
‘(These have) got to be sustainable places, as I say, they’ve got to be well-connected, well-designed.’
