Deputy PM will 'unblock' south east housing sites

The deputy prime minister has pledged to "unblock" sites not being developed for housing in the South East.

In an interview with BBC South East, Angela Rayner said there were lots of areas in Kent, Surrey and Sussex that needed to be "unlocked" for development, because developers are "frustrated that they are constantly in this process of being blocked".

It comes after she approved a housing development previously refused by Conservative councillors in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Cranbrook, Kent.

In a major speech on Thursday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reiterated the government's pledge to build 1.5m homes in England over the next Parliament, saying there would be "no solution to the housing crisis without approving controversial development".

The Kent Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) described the 165-home development at Cranbrook as "a political signal that the countryside is fair game for developers".

Ms Rayner, who is also the Secretary of State for Housing, would not talk about individual planning scenarios but said the government had pledged to "build on brownfield sites first".

Councils in Sussex have said they have major concerns about reaching the government's new housebuilding targets because they are restricted by the sea to the south, as well as the South Downs National Park and High Weald National Landscape.

"I don't believe for one minute across the whole of the South East - which I know very well - that there is only the rolling hills of Sussex," Ms Rayner said.

"There is lots of brownfield, lots of areas that need to be unlocked for development.

"And developers who have got land there are frustrated that they are constantly in this process of being blocked so what we want to do is unlock those sites and get those houses built."

Under new proposed house-building targets, authorities in Kent, Sussex and Surrey will have to build an additional 7,116 homes a year on top of existing targets.

The Surrey CPRE says it will mean a "tsunami" of development on the county's green belt.

Ms Rayner said the environment and nature would be taken into account.

She said: "National parks and heritage sites, they're all excluded and within the National Planning Policy Framework it clearly sets out what our rules are and it also talks about brownfield first.

"With local plans and mandatory targets it means local areas will identify the areas of land that they believe is where the houses should go and the infrastructure and we will help deliver it."

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