Keir Starmer issued a warning over (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer has been savaged over Labour’s housing targets, with critics warning he will “fail” to deliver.
Conservative councillor Peter Geary has issued a chilling warning that a large-scale “failed” housing project is a projection of what to expect across the rest of the country.
The politician claimed that delayed plans in Milton Keynes have caused “500 days” of road closures and ongoing disruption for residents as new schools are already boarded up.
“If this is an example of how will deliver 1.5m homes across the country, he will fail. This project is years behind schedule, has delivered no homes, has caused immense disruption to local people and is a catalogue of broken promises of roads, bridges and infrastructure promised, but never being delivered,” Cllr Geary claimed.
The proposals by Hallam Land include 3,500 new homes, infrastructure, community facilities and schools, plus public open spaces and landscaping. Located north of Broughton and the M1, the site, named Keeper Place, is part of the first phase of the Eastern Strategic City Extension draft allocation identified in the emerging Milton Keynes City Plan 2050.
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The plans include 3,500 new homes, schools and public spaces. (Image: Getty)
Cllr Geary represents Olney, a town in Milton Keynes at the heart of the project. He explains how the Labour Council “got a grant for £96m from Homes England in 2020 to build an access bridge for the site to make it viable.” However, inflation would make this figure near “£30m more.”
He added: “The only things that have been built are warehouses, an empty school and an empty doctor surgery. They’ve spent thousands boarding up these empty buildings. Meanwhile, there’s a shortage of school spaces, and GPs patient lists are full, and they’re turning people away. Zero houses have been built.”
The Tory councillor added that the schools are now boarded up because “they’re completely unused,” as nobody is there. “There are no houses for the children to go to school.”
Sir geared up to visit Milton Keynes today to announce his Government’s plan to build 100 new towns, yet was driven out by furious farmers. He hoped to use the MK East development between the city and Newport Pagnell as an example of growing town communities despite its “litany” of problems.
However, a barricade of 40 tractors lined up to protest against Labour’s plans, forcing him to exit the situation.
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Sir Keir Starmer’s visit was blocked by a protest of farmers. (Image: Getty)
Cllr Geary added how “a few million quid of taxpayers money [has] gone down the drain” just on bridges built for construction purposes to avoid road closures, before deciding to “knock them down again and close the road”.
Cllr Geary says he has spoken to many local residents in the community who are directly affected by the plans. “They are absolutely appalled that suddenly their rural village is now going to become a part of an urban development. They’re going to become urbanized,” he says.
“We aren’t just upset with the fact that houses are being built, but the fact that the things that were promised when this was going through planning aren’t coming to fruition.”
Public consultation events are being held throughout the process, where people can meet the project team, learn more about Keepers Place, and share their feedback.
Consultation events will be held at locations in both Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire at the following times:
- Thursday 27 February 3:30pm to 8pm Moulsoe Millenium Hall, Moulsoe, MK16 0HB
- Tuesday 4 March 3:30pm to 8pm Mary Agate Hall, Salford, MK17 8BB
- Wednesday 5 March 4:30pm to 8pm Broughton Pavilion, Broughton, MK10 9N
Express.co.uk has contacted Hallam Land and Milton Keynes City Council for comment.