Business of the House

Justin Madders Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend is brilliantly championing an excellent initiative in his constituency that maintains social value for the people of Rugby. I think the council ought to be referred to the national planning policy framework, which makes it clear that local planning authorities are expected to balance social, economic and environmental considerations in a way that is appropriate to their area. That is already in planning guidelines, and I therefore encourage him to keep on reminding the council of its obligations.

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

Last summer, the Government announced a £3.6 billion town fund and identified 100 towns that were to benefit from it. I was disappointed that Ellesmere Port and Neston—

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

And Little Neston.

[Justin Madders]

I was disappointed that those towns, and Little Neston, were not on the list, so I began tabling written questions about the basis on which successful towns were selected. I got a list of criteria, and I asked for the data that underpinned it, only to be told this week that that information was not available because the policy was still being developed. That prompts the question: how could towns have been selected for a fund if the policy was still being developed? We need a clear and unambiguous statement from the relevant Minister about that.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Policies are in development the whole time, and if we always waited for the complete development of every policy, nothing would ever happen.