Mr Luke Charters

Mr Luke Charters

Labour — York Outer

Speaking in the House of Commons on 11 December 2024

Debate

Responsibilities of Housing Developers

Contribution

Absolutely not. The example I gave was—to go back to that 2006 movie—about a hedge. The power that planning committees have must be exercised with restraint. We must consider the opportunity costs. Disabled families and other families, my constituents, have been left waiting six months because of a landscape issue over a hedge. There are a couple of practical considerations I would like to raise. The future homes standard is great, and developers have a responsibility there, but we cannot just focus on air source heat pumps. We must have battery storage linked to photovoltaics as well—that should be the new home standard. We must also have extra planning committee resource so we can properly hold developers to account. I would really welcome the Minister updating us on when the 200 new planning officers are likely to be in place. They are desperately needed in York. Let me also touch on pre-application discussions. These are important to let developers get on and consider local need in the right way and at an early stage.

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