Only allow affordable homes to be built in the Lakes and the Dales, MP tells Minister

On the floor of the House of Commons this afternoon, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron made the case for the planning authorities in the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales to be given the power to only approve new developments which have 100% affordable housing.

Speaking during Department for Work and Pensions oral questions in Parliament, Tim said: “The biggest bar to young people finding employment in the Lakes and the Dales is the fact that there is nowhere affordable for them to live with average house prices 12 times average incomes and the collapse of the long term rented sector into the Airbnb sector.

“Would the minister choose to make the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales special areas - pilot areas - for making sure that the only homes that we build there are affordable homes for people who will make their lives there, work and contribute to our economy so we don't run out of a workforce?

In response, the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression, Mims Davies said: “Well I think we can agree on one thing that his area is a very special area and we have in the meantime recruited 37 progression leads at DWP who will work locally with employers and the job centres to sort that progression and retention challenge.

“But of course, I think some of those questions are for another department.”