Emily Darlington

I congratulate the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George) on his laudable Bill, but it is just a sticking plaster on the housing crisis we are experiencing and many of the measures are unnecessary—[Interruption.] I hope I have not offended the hon. Member. I thought I was being quite nice! The measures are unnecessary for councils dedicated to building communities and not just housing. In fact, too many councils led by the Opposition parties are, quite frankly, nimbys and blocking councils. Milton Keynes is 60 next year, which is exciting for me and the MPs there. It is an example of what can be done when a council is committed to growth through building communities. In fact, everyone who has chosen to live in Milton Keynes is a pioneer—part of building the city that we are still creating. In every new estate, we build the school and GP surgery before the houses, rather than retrofitting them afterwards, and that is paid for by developers. We also build the infrastructure first. We are extending the grid roads, our famous roundabouts and our redways, which means that bicycles and pedestrians do not have to interact with the roads. Those provisions are set out in our council planning. Our community infrastructure—which ensures that communities have places to play, pray and gather—and our mixed housing, including social, affordable, private rent and private ownership, are set out in our “Strategy for 2050” plan. Having a five-year land supply, an up-to-date plan and a strategy that takes us out to 2050 allows us to put in place the things we need. We are also building culture. Over 100 languages are spoken in Milton Keynes, and each and every one of those communities is celebrated. We respect the fact that diversity increases our innovation and our ability to build this new city. It is of no surprise to any of us—though it might be to others in the country—that we have been shortlisted for the city of culture.