Rishi Sunak vows to save Britain’s Green Belt and fight ‘nationally-imposed, top-down targets’

The Prime Minister has vowed to save the Green Belt from housing development, creating an election dividing line with Labour.

Rishi Sunak faced down critics in his own party who want a fresh push on housebuilding, saying it is vital to ‘make sure our green spaces are protected’.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Japan, Mr Sunak defended his decision to scrap controversial ‘top down’ housing targets, saying local communities are more likely to accept new homes if they are given a proper say.

His comments create a clear dividing line with Sir Keir Starmer, who indicated that Labour is willing to sanction development on the Green Belt as part of plans to back ‘the builders, not the blockers’.

Senior Tories accused Sir Keir of introducing a ‘developers’ charter’ after he vowed to tear up planning rules to allow more building.

He also faced charges of ‘flip-flopping’, with critics pointing out he had previously ordered his MPs to back the right of local communities to object to unsuitable schemes.

In an interview this week, Sir Keir said it was time to ‘have that discussion’ about opening up the Green Belt for development.

Asked about protection of the Green Belt, Mr Sunak said he was ‘very clear’ about the need to ditch the ‘nationally imposed, top down targets’, which required councils to permit a set number of new homes each year.

‘I don’t think that is the right approach,’ he said.

‘I was very clear over the summer I wanted to make sure our green spaces are protected. I think that is what local communities want. 

‘At the same time, we have empowered local communities with local plans. We’ve made it easier for local communities to adopt local plans so they can have a more meaningful say in the type of development happening in their areas.’

Sir Keir vowed to take on so-called Nimbys who object to local development on principle.

In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce, the Labour leader said: ‘A generation and its hopes are being blocked by those who – more often than not – enjoy the secure homes and jobs that they’re denying to others.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer indicated that Labour is willing to sanction development on the Green Belt as part of plans to back ‘the builders, not the blockers’

‘You can’t be serious about raising productivity, about improving the supply-side capacity of our economy and about arresting our economic decline, without a plan for the windfarms, the laboratories, the warehouses and the homes this country so desperately needs.’

But the PM said opposition to housebuilding was often driven not by Nimbyism but by legitimate concerns about the nature of proposed development.

He said: ‘What I find is that it’s not necessarily an opposition to housing itself, it’s how and where exactly it is done and the infrastructure that comes alongside it.’

But Tory sources have highlighted Labour’s hypocrisy over the issue, pointing out that senior figures such as levelling up spokesman Lisa Nandy had opposed development in their own constituencies while urging it on in others.

‘You can’t trust a word that Starmer says on housing,’ one source said. ‘These are more empty promises from Labour.’