Michael Fabricant has welcomed the Government’s decision to change centrally dictated house building targets to be “advisory” and to become a “starting point, a guide that is not mandatory” as a Government spokesman put it.

Michael says “These new rules will mean that local councils will be allowed to build fewer homes than Whitehall believes are needed if they can show that hitting the targets would significantly change the character of an area.  With major house building already underway to the south of Lichfield and more to come, I am relieved that more cannot be imposed by Whitehall mandarins.

“Lichfield is a beautiful city but runs the risk – like so many other towns and cities in the midlands – of being ruined by excessive home building and consequent concreting over green fields.  Excessive house building on green field sites will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  I’m all for building on redundant industrial land – so called brownfield sites – but ancient cities like Lichfield have very few such locations.

“It is right that central government should offer local councils incentives to build new homes, but it must be up to local councils to decide where to build them and how many and to avoid being too greedy.  This is a fine balance upon which local representatives, our councillors, are best placed to make a judgement.”