MacCleary hits out at MP's reckless new town comments

The Liberal Democrat candidate for the next General Election in Lewes constituency, James MacCleary, has condemned comments by Brighton MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle in which he identified two sites in the constituency for new towns.

Speaking on the BBC Politics Show South East this weekend, Mr Russell-Moyle singled out the villages of Ringmer and Plumpton as potential sites for new towns under a future Labour government. 

James MacCleary said:  "We have spent the last few years trying to resist the Conservatives imposing their top down housing policies on our area and it is pretty depressing to hear a local Labour MP pushing the same agenda. Villages like Ringmer have faced a blizzard of planning applications thanks to the government's free-for-all for developers.

"The so-called 'Eton New Town' proposal at North Barnes Farm in East Chiltington is not a suitable site for thousands of new homes while the next door village of Plumpton Green is already taking more than its fair share of housing. These are rural locations with little major infrastructure. For Lloyd Russell-Moyle to dismiss the well informed and evidence-based objections of local residents by calling them NIMBYs is just offensive, and shows how little he knows about our area.

"His comments are reckless and expose Labour's housing plans as half-baked at best. Any future sites for new towns across the country need to be carefully planned, not thrown around randomly. I will continue to stand with residents to stop Conservative and Labour mass building on our local villages."