The Conservative candidate for the possible Mid Bedfordshire by-election has said he’s “not a NIMBY” but the constituency has taken more than its fair share of new homes.
“We have taken by far a larger level of house building compared to the national average in Mid Beds,” Festus Akinbusoye told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
“This urban sprawl that we’ve seen between our village and market towns, it needs to stop.
“[This is] just something that we need to take a deep pause about, and our local people having more of a say on house building.”
He added: “I am representing what the people of Mid Bedfordshire want.
“Look, I’m saying the housing targets needed to be in place because we needed to boost housing.
“And I don’t think anyone would disagree that we need to have housing, we need to build roads.
“I am not anti-housing, I am not a NIMBY, I’m just saying that we need to have a sensible approach to this – having the housing in the right place and the right quantities.
“The prime minister recently announced that he wants to go for a brownfield first approach to house building and more densification, and also to remove the top down targets coming from Westminster which has been in place for many, many, years.
“That is the right thing, not this urbanisation of places like Mid Bedfordshire.”
Despite the recent announcements by Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove, there is still a government formula in place to determine the minimum number of homes to be planned for by local authorities.
So the LDRS asked Akinbusoye if that is still a top-down target set by Westminster.
“Of course the finer details of the dates when things become in effect is something that I don’t have the details of,” he replied.
“But it is quite clear, given the amount of emphasis and focus the prime minister and Michael Gove from DLUHC [Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities] have put into this, this is going to be government policy.
“I think the vast majority of the people of Mid Bedfordshire know exactly what they want to see in our communities when it comes to housing.
“Where I stand is very clear, I do not agree that a top-down target from Westminster helps Mid Bedfordshire at all.
“We’ve now seen a four-fold increase in the amount of houses being built compared to the national average, it hasn’t helped us – that’s where I stand,” he said.
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
