On Monday last week there was a session that took place in Parliament which is entitled “Brownfield Land: Development – Levelling Up, Housing and Communities” which was organised by Henry Smith who is the Conservative MP for Crawley and the other Sussex MP who took part was Peter Bottomley who is the Conservative MP for Worthing West. The other MPs who took part were John Spellar who is the Labour MP for Warley, Tim Farron who is the Liberal Democrat for, Priti Patel who is the Conservative MP for Witham and Barry Sheerman who is the Labour MP for Huddersfield. The Minister that responded was Michael Gove who is the Secretary for Levelling up Housing and Communities. So here are the comments from Henry Smith and Peter Bottomley and the responses from Michael Gove and here is the location for the whole of the discussion.

Henry: What his policy is on the use of brownfield land for new developments.

Michael: The Government strongly encourage the reuse of suitable brownfield land. Our national planning policy framework makes it clear that local authorities should give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes and other identified needs. The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will further empower local leaders to regenerate urban centres by strengthening and adding to existing measures.

Henry: Homes England proposes to build up to 10,000 houses on greenfield sites west of Ifield in my constituency. What directive has my right hon. Friend’s Department given to the executive agency Homes England on the Department’s brownfield-first building policy?

Michael: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that question. I cannot go into individual planning cases, but Homes England is leading a programme of urban regeneration. The work that we are doing in London’s docklands and in Leeds, Sheffield, Wolverhampton and other areas demonstrates our commitment both to levelling up and to making sure that, for environmental and economic reasons, we develop brownfield land first.

And here is the Peter Bottomley item

Peter: My right hon. Friend may know that, in Durrington in north-west Worthing, more than 1,000 new homes have been built. Will he ask his inspectors—and the Leader of the Opposition—to recognise that Chatsmore Farm and Lansdowne Nurseries should not be built on? We must have some green fields between one habitation and another.

Michael: The Father of the House makes a very important point. Of course, his beautiful constituency—situated as it is between the sea and areas of outstanding natural beauty—has already seen significant development and we do need to ensure that settlements have the green belts around them protected.