Speeches by Cocking.

“I want to touch a bit more on infrastructure because I am not sure you have answered the questions from my colleague. My constituency of Broxbourne is just over the border from Chase Park and Crews Hill New Town, 22,000 homes, which is in the top three. It is very close to the village of Goffs Oak, which has had too mu…”

“So you were.”

“Lewis Cocking, the MP for Broxbourne.”

“Before the Minister comes in can I clarify that? You are saying if you had have had more time you would have done more in-depth consultation on these sites?”

“So you focused on the people who will make the most money out of it and within their interests to get these sites forward. That is not a sensible way to do it.”

“To the Minister and Sir Michael, when you go through the local plan process you have a duty to co-operate with your neighbouring authorities and what have you. I have asked written questions on this. There has been no consultation with neighbouring authorities in these proposed new towns. When you move to the next stag…”

“The M25 and the A10 are gridlocked at rush hour. You want to put 22,000 homes right next door to that and you are not saying, “You can only do that if you put this infrastructure in first”. You have said that you have done an assessment and everything seems okay. That is what I have just picked up from your answer.”

“If you think you are going to create a new town in a particularly rural setting and no one is going to use a car, you are on a different planet. It is a bit like turning up to a transport meeting where the person comes in a car and says everyone has to walk and cycle everywhere. It just does not happen in reality.”

“As we have heard, trial by jury is one of this country’s most fundamental rights. Only months ago, this Government were elected and a Minister was saying: “Jury service is an essential part of criminal justice which underpins the impartiality and fairness that runs through our legal system.” I would have thought that e…”

“That is what you said; you said you cannot speed up because the quality is going to be affected.”

“We have just heard that that is not true.”

“There are thousands of unbuilt planning permissions.”

“Do you think that needs to be regionalised? There will not be many properties below that in my constituency, whereas if you go further north in the country there will be more options for people to be able to get on the property ladder and not pay stamp duty. So do you think, if they were not to abolish it, at the very …”

“The threshold is about £250,000 across the country in terms of first-time buyers.”

“Both those statements cannot be true. If you get money from section 106, that is—”

“Part of the problem, David, is that the section 106 homes are one and two bedrooms, when local authorities are crying out for three bedrooms. Developers are not building the appropriate homes that the local authority or the social landlord want.”

“Lewis Cocking, MP for Broxbourne.”

“If we abolished stamp duty, what do you think that would do to the housing market?”

“Beth, you said there were some exemptions for first-time buyers.”

“I do not think that is a true reflection. Most local authorities will be asking for three-bedroom family homes, but the developer will build one and two-bed flats for which there is less need. That is certainly my experience.”