Marcus Jones, the MP for Nuneaton, has met with the Planning Minister, Brandon Lewis MP, to discuss delays with the Council’s Borough Plan. The meeting followed an invitation to the Minister from the town’s MP to visit Nuneaton.
This latest action by the town’s MP comes after five years of delays from the Labour Council. Marcus believes that the delays are purely politically driven and is concerned that local people’s views are being completely ignored.
Marcus outlined a number of issues being experienced in the town as a result of having no Borough Plan, including developments on countryside land and a lack of infrastructure – including roads, NHS services and education provision.
Commenting on his latest attempt to bring fairness to the public over this long running saga, Marcus said: “The whole process of the Borough Plan is in chaos and there are thousands of people who are fed up with the delays and the lack of information and transparency. This has now been ongoing for five years which is completely unacceptable.
“There are a number of speculative developments being built and planned across Nuneaton without the proper planning of local infrastructure to cope with new development.
“There needs to be a vision for Nuneaton that is fair, sustainable and that local people can buy into. At the moment, local people are having to suffer what is a shambles of a process because of the Labour Council. I therefore invited the Planning Minister to visit Nuneaton to explain to him on site some of the issues being experienced by local people.”
The Planning Minister, Brandon Lewis MP, added: “I was pleased to visit Nuneaton to discuss this important issue with Marcus, who has raised these delays previously in Parliament and continues to fight for the interests of local people. The Government’s planning reforms were intended to give local people more of a say about new development and I am particularly disappointed that the local Council are yet to formulate a Borough Plan. I would urge Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to move the plan forward as quickly as possible.”