Mid Bedfordshire MP Blake Stephenson has called on the Government to urgently reform the planning system to prevent what he described as “bad development” in Bedfordshire and across the country.
In a Westminster Hall debate this week, the Conservative MP said Labour’s plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament could lead to a new wave of poorly planned developments unless more is done to prioritise infrastructure and community.
He used the debate to raise local concerns, including the long-promised but still undelivered GP surgery in Wixams, and fears about increasing flood risks in Maulden due to continued housebuilding.
Read: Setback for Wixams GP surgery as council say the government needs to help
Stephenson said he was “not a nimby or a blocker”, but insisted that if the Government is serious about building houses and critical infrastructure, “we need to ensure that we do so in a way that is future-proof and resilient.”
He added that most of the people who have been labelled as blockers “are not ideological obsessives standing in front of the bulldozers of progress; they are people fed up with bad development.”
He said they are “fed up of developers throwing up housing estates but not building communities, of soulless developments that could be found anywhere, and, most importantly, of developments that worsen quality of life.”
“Not about blocking”
Since being elected last year, Stephenson has repeatedly raised concerns about housebuilding in Mid Bedfordshire and says he has been working to hold both the Government and developers to account.
He was part of a group of Conservative MPs who met with management company FirstPort to demand better value for money for residents faced with increasing service charges.
He has also warned that the government’s plans to build new towns across the country risk a “double whammy” of housebuilding in areas like Bedfordshire, where the pressure on infrastructure is already a major concern.
“We need to turn blockers into builders,” he told the Commons. “Most people aren’t trying to stop progress – they just want to see better, more thoughtful planning.”
You can watch the full debate on Blake Stephenson’s YouTube channel: Watch here.
