SIR – In response to Bingley councillors (Letters, November 19), it’s their Conservative-led Government concreting green fields by changing planning to favour developers forcing through more homes. David Cameron says rural Tories should stop opposing these changes.
Our landscape is a valued asset but we also need more homes. That’s why the Council is investing in tackling empty homes and doing what it can to put brownfield first. Green space is best protected through having a local plan, but the fact remains that councils are bound by national laws which don’t allow us to make brownfields a priority Labour is showing leadership, unlike our Tory predecessors who, for all their talk, had West Yorkshire’s worst record on brownfield and the region’s worst on empty homes. Since 2010, 93 per cent of new homes have been built on brownfield sites, more than 3,000 empty homes revitalised, and we have listened about housing estimates being too high and revised numbers downwards.
On Government cuts, Bingley, like the rest of Bradford, is paying for the Government’s policy of favouring Southern England over the North. Disproportionate cuts affect all Bradford District, and regrettably it is impossible to provide Bingley or anywhere else with immunity from the impact.
Coun Val Slater, Executive Member for Housing, Planning and Transport, c/o City Hall, Bradford
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