Rachel Reeves was visiting a WHG buidling developmemt in Walsall along with her Mayoral Candidate colleague.

Express & Star

Labours Rachel Reeves joined the West Mids Mayoral Candidate for a look around a housing development in Walsall.

Transcript

00:00Okay, ladies and gentlemen, Shadow Chancellor here in Green Lane, Walsall today at the former

00:06Raybald Bridge Factory site.

00:08Could you briefly tell me what brings you to this site today?

00:11Well it's great to see what Walsall Housing Group are doing and it's what Richard wants

00:16to do if he's elected Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

00:21We know that Andy Street in eight years has only built 46 council homes and yet there

00:27are 64,000 people on the waiting list for council and social homes.

00:32So it's great to see what Walsall Housing Group are doing here but Richard wants to

00:38turbo charge the building of new homes including social houses to rent right across the West

00:45Midlands because the demand is there and we know what a transformational impact it can

00:49have on people's lives having a home of their own and the great thing about some of these

00:54houses as well is that the energy bills will be really low because of the energy efficiency.

00:59So a home of your own and low bills, that's really massive for families and that's why

01:06Richard's put it at the heart of his agenda.

01:08Absolutely right, so what we're going to do is rapidly deploy the brownfield funds that

01:13the current Mayor's got so we can develop sites like this in the black country a lot

01:17quicker.

01:18We're going to work with planning authorities so we fast track planning and then have a

01:22laser focus on using the housing resources available to the Mayor to build a minimum

01:28of 2,000 units of social housing a year and we're going to use the £250 million he hasn't

01:33used already to pump crime housing development with housing associations like the Walsall

01:37Housing Group.

01:38So I know it's quite a key part of Labour's policy is the introduction of housing targets.

01:45What assurances would you give to people who perhaps live on the greenbelt or in suburban

01:50areas that the density of population isn't going to become a problem for them, there's

01:54going to be overdevelopment in greenbelt areas?

01:56We want more developments like this, this is a brownfield site, a form of steelworks

02:01across the road, this was an industrial use as well but for years had been derelict.

02:08So a brownfield first approach and certainly in the West Midlands and here in Walsall there

02:14is plenty of brownfield sites to develop, if only you had a Mayor that made it a priority

02:20and that's why right at the heart of Richard's offer is around housing, skills and jobs because

02:27those are the priorities of local people right across the West Midlands.

02:30But at the time obviously whoever comes to the next government isn't going to have much

02:32money to play with, obviously brownfield sites are far more expensive to develop, where do

02:37you foresee the funding coming from for that?

02:39The Mayor's got access to about £200 million in funding for brownfield sites specifically

02:44and I want to align that with the housing funds he's got so we can build out on sites

02:48like this.

02:49The back country has got many many brownfield sites as has the wider West Midlands, we build

02:54on brownfield sites, we rebuild and reconnect our communities, we create jobs and we allow

03:00all the communities across the West Midlands to thrive and prosper.

03:03And builders want to build but what you need is the political will to unlock land to make

03:09it available for housing and brownfield sites like this are really crucial to reaching Labour's

03:16targets and also Richard's targets for here in the West Midlands to ensure that people

03:20have got a home of their own and you know some sort of stats that I was looking at earlier

03:26today shows that the number of young people who are living at home has increased in the

03:32last four or five years by 16% in the West Midlands.

03:36Now some young people you know want to stay living at home but many would much rather

03:41be able to get on the housing ladder or even be able to rent a home of their own but because

03:46houses are being built, not being built, that's not happening and that's why we want to make

03:50it a priority.

03:51So can you assure people then that the Labour government will not be having any extensive

03:56development to the green builds?

03:58What Keir Starmer said just earlier this week was that where you've got for example a disused

04:04car park on the green build or a petrol station, these are two real examples, of course building

04:14on those sorts of sites is preferable to building on a field in an urban area so you've got

04:20to take a practical approach but here in the West Midlands and across great swathes of

04:24the country there is plenty of brownfield sites that can be developed and we want to

04:29see developed.

04:30A crucial part of our plan as well is that when new housing is built there should be

04:35first dibs for local people because often local people are priced out of the local housing

04:40market and that's not good enough.

04:41We want local people and young families to be able to get on the housing ladder.

04:46So you would say that we're doubting to what extent living next to say a farm as a developer

04:50has been trying to develop that there will be no change in policy towards that?

04:54We are identifying pieces of land like car parks, like petrol stations, that's the sort

04:59of development we want to see and a brownfield first approach and people do not need to worry.

05:07In fact this is about saying we'll have a strategy led by our mayors to develop the

05:14housing that is appropriate with local housing plans developed in conjunction with local

05:18people and local mayors.

05:20We've seen what's been done here on this site with the housing association here, Walsall

05:24Housing Group, working with Walsall Council to redevelop this site and I plan to work

05:29with councils and housing associations across the region to replicate what was happening

05:34here in every borough across the West Midlands.

05:37So when a developer says they want to develop a piece of farmland, say we've got one called

05:42the Seven Cornfields near where I live and where the local developer wants to develop

05:47that, there would be no pressure from government to meet housing targets to develop that site?

05:53I don't know that site or development.

05:56If a farmland a developer wants to develop?

05:59That's not brownfield and our approach is a brownfield of a site, a brownfield first.

06:05OK, you've said today about their nationalisation is going to be one of the first policies of

06:13a Labour government.

06:14Why is that such an important policy to be the first thing to do?

06:18Well, I got here half an hour late today on a train which had two trainloads of people

06:24in it because the previous train was cancelled.

06:27That is not how people should be travelling but it is the result of a fragmented train

06:35operating system that doesn't put the passenger first and the proposals that Lou Haig, our

06:41transport secretary put out today is saying that when franchises come to an end we will

06:47bring those back in house, we will put the passenger at the heart of the train system

06:53and instead of having multiple companies operating different routes we will bring that under

06:58a central organising body and have passengers once again at the heart of our transport system

07:06to save money and to deliver a better train system for families and commuters.

07:13Certainly here the failing transport system is failing the people of the West Midlands.

07:18Was it succeeding on the British Rail before?

07:20Well look, if you look at the satisfaction of the railways today, that's been on the

07:26decline and we want to see more people have confidence in the rail system, have confidence

07:31they'll get to where they want to on time.

07:33The government are today putting £4 billion a year into the train, so that's £4 billion

07:39of public money but what are passengers seeing for it and what are taxpayers seeing for that

07:43money?

07:43This is about getting value for money for taxpayers and a better service for passengers.

07:47So you believe there would be less subsidies if it wasn't nationalised?

07:51Well I think the evidence today shows that you could save potentially over £2 billion

07:56if you had one train operating company rather than the multiple franchises that you see

08:01today.

08:02Many of those franchises of course have already failed and have come back into public ownership

08:07by default.

08:07This is about using great British Rail to bring back in those contracts.

Category

Transcript

Recommended