Theresa May urged to drop personal allegiances and allow new homes on Greenbelt land to help solve housing crisis

Sep 9, 2018

Published in the Sunday Telegraph 9th September 2018

Theresa May is being urged to find the “political courage” to drop her opposition to building on green belt land to help tackle the housing crisis.

In a new paper, Simon Clarke, a Tory member of the Commons Treasury select committee, describes progress on building new homes as “painfully slow” and says current restrictions imposed on the buffer zones have become the “central obstacle”.

The paper, published by Freer, a new Conservative think tank, proposes relaxing rules on building homes within half a mile of railway stations – areas that are likely to be in “high demand” and are already well served by transport links.

Mr Clarke says his plan would free up land for at least 1.5 million new homes. The proposal is understood to have the backing of several senior ministers.

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