The new Labour government have set out their law-making agenda for this Parliament and I have grave concerns about the reforms on planning.

Since I was first elected in 2015, I have made protecting our local countryside one of my major priorities for the area. Having grown up enjoying the green spaces in the area, I continue to find great pleasure in our beautiful surroundings and I know as well as anyone how important it is to secure long-term protections for them.

Here in Hertsmere, we are exceptional in that almost all the borough’s undeveloped land is Green Belt.

Sadly that Green Belt is now at great risk thanks to the Labour government’s major overhaul of planning rules.

They have confirmed that they will re-designate large chunks of Green Belt as grey belt, removing vital and necessary protections, in order to build on it.

They have also pledged to reimpose top-down mandatory housing targets which I lobbied so hard to remove. This will mean large new housing quotas for our area.

Power will be removed from local residents, who know best about their area, to object to new developments and it will be placed into the hands of a Labour government who want to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament. It is proposed that Hertsmere will have to build 959 houses per year- representing more than a 30% increase from the previous targets. This will guarantee destruction of the Green Belt.

While Hertsmere must do its bit to address the nationwide housing shortage, this must not be at the expense of what makes our area special.

I want to assure you that my top priority continues to be protecting our precious Green Belt. Whilst Labour won nationally, they did not in Hertsmere so I will continue to oppose these destructive changes.