Nigel Evans campaigns to protect rural areas

Nigel Evans, the MP for the Ribble Valley, is hoping to protect rural areas around Clitheroe by slowing the development of new housing.

The MP has asked the secretary of state for housing, James Brokenshire, to make changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, which would provide protections to rural areas and give more control to local councils.

He has also written to all members of the Ribble Valley Borough Council Planning & Development Committee asking to slow down the number of housing developments being passed in Clitheroe and surrounding areas.

Nigel said: “There is a drastic need for housing in the UK, I am not arguing with that fact. But this does not mean there is drastic need in the Ribble Valley.

"Each week it seems a new development is underway in Clitheroe, the area is absolutely saturated with new build homes. Clitheroe, Barrow and Whalley have more than played their part in easing the national housing crisis.

“The National Planning Policy Framework is a vital tool to ensure that the government is on track to deliver much-needed homes, but there is little provision to protect areas like the Ribble Valley that have already been flooded with new developments. If building carries on at this level Barrow will become a continuation of Clitheroe.” He added:“The Housing Secretary urgently needs to address the guidelines set by the NPPF, it currently provides ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies which fail to address that housing need in the Ribble Valley is different to housing need in London and the South. I have invited James Brokenshire to visit the Ribble Valley and see first-hand the sheer number of developments and show him plots that are still vacant months after completion.”