MP for Tonbridge calls for infrastructure before more houses
Tom Tugendhat says while new houses are needed - water comes first
Speaking to Hits and Greatest Hits Radio, Tom Tugendhart said:
"I really recognise the need for more building across Kent to make sure that our families can live near us, our friends and our kids can have the same chances to start their lives."
"But this needs to be matched with the infrastructure and at the moment the government is planning thousands of houses without the water to support it.
"We've already got into a drought this summer and we know that there's huge problems with South East Water, and so we really need to see that infrastructure come in first."
On the local work being done by the council on the issue Tugendhart added:
"I welcome the work of the leader of Tunbridge and Morning Borough Council, Matt Borton, in doing this.
"I'm very supportive of the work that Tunbridge and Morning Borough Council are doing in Tunbridge because we do need more starter homes and homes for young people in Tunbridge.
"And they're doing an enormous amount of really good, really sensible construction there.
"But we need to match it with the infrastructure."
He added that he also appreciated the work put in by Water Minister Emma Hardy, but overall the government needed to put more consideration into the issue:
"The first thing the government could do, is they could actually listen.
"I happen to rather like Angela Rayner, but when she was in the Department for Communities and Local Government before, she basically took a whole bunch of green fields in our community and said that they were grey belt.
"There's nothing grey about them, they're green fields.
"And this sort of pretense that somehow these are sort of some industrial wasteland around Edenbridge or around Tunbridge is complete rubbish.
"So we need to make sure that there is an honest understanding of what is around our community so that the building that we do need can be done sensitively and properly and people can support it."
A government spokesperson said:
“We will build the homes this country needs and our Water Delivery Taskforce will make sure that this is not constrained by water capacity, alongside our action to improve water efficiency and invest in new infrastructure like reservoirs.
“Water companies have a duty to plan and deliver the infrastructure needed for new homes, and we’re working with areas like Tonbridge to address water supply challenges.”