Labour to ‘strip residents of their rights’ to protest new housing developments

Getting Britain to build more housing and infrastructure is central to the Government’s plans to strengthen economic growth.

But it has already faced strong opposition amid fears that it will put the countryside at risk.

The controversial plans were confirmed in the King’s Speech on Wednesday which include the loosening of planning restrictions to build 1.5 million homes.

In a spicy exchange with the Mirror’s John Stevens, Sam says residents will lose the right to oppose developments in their area.

She said: “I think that this is going to be a big area of potential conflict in the coming years. Clearly if you’re asked, ‘do you think young people should be able to buy their own homes’…you’d struggle to find anybody who didn’t agree with that.”

“The question has always been -- where do you build them? As soon as you start whacking up housing developments without all of the infrastructure that goes alongside it and without proper design, you can end up with quite ugly developments close to where people feel quite settled.”

Sam added: “What the Labour government is trying to do is essentially strip people of their rights to object to developments to be able to push them through.”

“What they’ve said is they’ll allow people to take part in the consultations for the planning requirements of an entire town or area…but when it comes to what it built next to you, you have no say over that”

Sam believes that the Labour policy is a 'sham'.

She said: “Expecting them to take part in these bigger plans is just completely unrealistic and a bit of sham way of saying people have got control over what’s happening when in reality, who on earth Is going to sit there and take part in these discussions?”

John, political editor of the Mirror hit back: “On things like local Facebook groups, if there is something about planning and developments there is a large amount of engagement. You will see that when people talk about those larger scale plans, people do actually find a way to get involved.

“Also, with housing it’s pointless to just say we need to build more homes…you actually have to do something to sort it out. Those decisions might be difficult, but Labour clearly have this plan,” he said.

Sam responded: “I think what happens in the abstract is very different to what happens in reality. If you have a horrible ugly estate thrown up on the end of your road, I think that people will still feel very angry about it.”

“When they suddenly realise that they no longer have the power to object to it, Labour may pay a price.”

For more, listen to The Division Bell podcast where Sam and John go head to head and dissect the King's Speech, as well as the EPC summit and immigration.

New episodes are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the General Election campaign, with a special edition on the morning after polling day.