Last week, it was announced that the multistorey car park which will be built alongside the HS2 Interchange Station at Arden Cross gained planning permission. Originally, the car park was designed as a flat tarmac surface level car park. I have always considered this to be an inappropriate use of the land. As the land was going to be built on it made more sense to turn this into a multistorey car park and free up 74 acres of land. I’m delighted that through a combination of lobbying central government and working with Solihull Council and Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, we have been able to free up this land to attract investment and create jobs for our local community.
I am also pleased the Prime Minister is committed to a ‘brownfield first’ policy regarding development and house building. Ultimately this protects our greenbelt and preserves our beautiful environment.
At a time when food security is so important, I am confident that reforms to our planning system will help to ensure the development potential of brownfield land is maximised and our high-quality farming land is used for food production. This is something that I discussed when I met with local farmers and the National Farmers’ Union in early November. Although I welcome these early steps from the government, I will be pushing for more help for our farmers who are vital for ensuring food security and making sure planning reform works for our communities across my constituency.
As part of UK Parliament Week, I am hosting Tea with My Community from 11am until 12.30pm on November 18. UK Parliament Week is an annual event, spreading the word about what Parliament is, what it does and how you can get involved.
Tea with My Community was inspired by the late Sir David Amess who would regularly invite constituents to tea. I am glad we can honour his memory with this event.
Anyone who wants to come along should email me on [email protected] and the details of where to go will be given.
