MPs Mark Pawsey and Jeremy Wright – missing from the action?

Writing to the Rugby Advertiser this week the chair of Dunchurch Parish Council, Peter Eccleson, raises some important issues about the National Planning Policy Framework.

The National Planning Policy Framework is a powerful tool to enable houses to be built where local councils are failing to identify suitable land for new housing needs.

In order to remain masters in their own house Rugby Borough Council needs to demonstrate that they have a plan to provide for Rugby's housing needs over the next five years. This should be easy for the ruling group of Rugby conservatives as they have granted planning permission for 6,000 new houses on the Rugby Radio Masts site. Sadly they have fluffed this task.

The second point is that the rules surrounding the National Planning Policy Framework should be reasonable. Parliament has recommended some changes which would help towns like Rugby. However the relevant Secretary of State, Eric Pickles MP (Con, Brentwood & Ongar), has rejected the concerns raised by Parliament. See http://rugby.lib.dm/a1RD3 .

So where are our local MPs? Residents across the Rugby area including those in Hillside and Dunchurch are concerned about the impact of the current National Planning Policy Framework rules. Why have Mark Pawsey and Jeremy Wright not come out and publicly said that they support their colleagues in Parliament and that Eric Pickles should rewrite his rules?