Ed Balls: Labour would change law to help keep developers off green land

Read Ed Balls' response to the six key issues facing Teesside - as decided by our readers

Laws would be brought in under a Labour government to force housing developers to build on brownfield sites, the Shadow Chancellor has told The Gazette.

Ed Balls said “one of the big mistakes” made by the Coalition Government “was to abolish the ‘brownfield first’ presumption in planning”.

And he said he expects Labour to tackle the issue soon after next month's General Election - if the party is in Government.

“Of course the developers, to get the housing numbers, would rather build large detached houses on the edge of town because they make more money out of that,” Mr Balls said.

“And that’s fine, but it's not the houses we need, because the houses we need are more affordable.

"And the land we should be developing is in brownfield sites.”

The plans may be of interest to residents in areas including Yarm and Ingleby Barwick, Stokesley, Ormesby and the Marske area - which have seen campaigns over proposals to develop green space.

Peter Reimann/The Gazette

Ed Balls and Anna Turley at the Gazette's offices

Mr Balls said developers would only be convinced to build on brownfield sites through a change in the law.

“I think we have got to change the law to make it clear there is a brownfield-first presumption, and also to give the planners or the councils more clout,” he continued.

“The reality at the moment is there is an obligation to get the (new housing) numbers, in law, for the council.

“But they have also got to have a plan which is viable and the law at the moment is giving too much power to the developers to decide what viable means.

“So the developers say ‘I’m really sorry, it’s only viable if you let us do the larger greenfield house sites’.

Peter Reimann/The Gazette

Ed Balls with the Gazette's Teesside Manifesto

“Councils challenge them in the courts and the courts have been finding in favour of the developers because that’s what the law says.

“You have got to change the law.”

Labour's Mr Balls, who visited the Gazette yesterday with Redcar Parliamentary candidate Anna Turley, said people want councils “to build the kind of homes people want to live in”.

“And that’s going to require a change in the system to strengthen the brownfield-first presumption,” he said.

“This is an economic imperative. We have got to build more homes, we have got to deal with that housing crisis so we will want to be moving on these issues quickly after the General Election.

“I think you’d expect our first budget to be talking about housing issues in a big way.”

Ian McIntyre/The Gazette

Ed Balls at Conyers School in Yarm

The Shadow Chancellor said a Labour government would also give councils more powers to be able to levy council tax on empty properties in a bid to bring them back into use.

That is one of the six key priorities for Teesside highlighted by readers in The Gazette's Teesside Manifesto.

Mr Balls said these “are quite often empty properties which landlords have been hoarding or just waiting for speculative reasons”.

“So after 12 months the councils will be able to levy 100% council tax, and I think that would be a much bigger disincentive than to just sitting on empty properties,” he said.

The Teesside Manifesto election demands

Watch Ed Balls talk football with The Gazette's Anthony Vickers