Alec raised concerns over local housing pressures in the House of Commons in October. Blaming housing pressures on “unfettered immigration” over the past decade, Mr Shelbrooke asked Home Office Ministers to cut immigration further and relieve pressures on Greenfield land around Elmet & Rothwell.
Residents in villages aound Elmet & Rothwell were outraged when planning applications to build thousands of new homes on Greenfield land were submitted to Leeds City Council. The Council’s draft Strategic Land and Housing Availability Assessment proposes to build 12,500 new houses in the constituency.
But Alec slammed Leeds City Council’s figures as “unsustainably high” when he called upon Immigration Minister, Mark Harper MP to cut immigration further. In the House of Commons, Alec said: “Housing pressure in my constituency is huge as a result of the last Government’s unfettered immigration policies. Can my honourable friend confirm that he intends to continue his endeavours to cut immigration further, thus relieving the pressure that is undermining the level of new housing being demanded by Leeds City Council?”
Alec commented further: “The Government are making real progress having already cut net immigration by a third since the last election. But here in Wetherby we are now feeling the real consequences of previous open door policies on immigration and I think it’s vital we cut further and get Leeds City Council to revise down their housing figures and reduce pressure on our villages”.
Replying to Alec’s question, the Immigration Minister answered: “My honourable friend has made a good point. Our reduction in net migration will reduce the pressure on housing, and the provisions in the Immigration Bill will further ensure that people who have no right to be here will have no access to housing which will increase the amount of housing stock available to British citizens.”
For further information on the Government’s Immigration Bill visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-bill