As Stuart Andrew MP steps into pastures new this week, his main
mission appears to be to stop developers from doing the same. A staunch critic
of housing targets, Green Belt development and everything in between, the new
Housing Minister (the 11th since 2010) has been by all accounts a
surprise pick to take over from incumbent Chris Pincher MP.
Since he was first elected as Member of Parliament for Pudsey in 2010, Andrew
has held several different titles, ranging from Under Secretary for Wales to
Deputy Chief Whip of the House. However, when it comes to his new brief, it is
undoubtedly his 11 years’ experience as a local councillor that will prove most
helpful for him to draw upon.
Andrew’s political career began when he was elected to Wrexham County Borough
Council in 1995, briefly defecting to Labour before returning to the
Conservatives when he moved to Leeds in 2000. He was subsequently elected to
Leeds City Council, serving on the council from 2003 up until 2010. In this
time, he became known as a keen campaigner against ‘excessive development’
within his ward, becoming a member of the Council’s planning panel and
eventually, Lead Member for the Development Department.
It is a passion that he has carried into his parliamentary career. Andrew has
racked up a healthy record of engagement in planning and development as an MP,
participating in everything from national debates to constituency campaigns.
His focus has consistently been on the need for local authorities to adopt a
brownfield-first approach to ensure that Green Belt land is protected from
development, stemmed by his ardent opposition to Leeds City Council’s
controversial Local Plan.
A glance into his voting record says much of the same. Andrew has
voted against a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities, and against
giving local authorities a new ‘right to grow’ to deliver the homes their
communities need. Perhaps most controversially, he was one of 72 MPs who
defeated an amendment to make rental homes fit for human habitation whilst
being landlords themselves.
So, what does Stuart Andrew like? Resoundingly, community engagement. He has
advocated extensively for greater community involvement in planning, extolling
the virtues of neighbourhood forums and ‘real place-making.’ In a parliamentary
debate on planning in 2013, Andrew even offered his own definition of the term
‘Localism’ namely, “local communities deciding what, where and when development
should take place.”
It is with this in mind that Andrew’s new role appears to be a smart move by
the Government. With the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
preparing an update on its long-delayed planning reforms in the Spring, reforms
which have been roundly criticised for diminishing community involvement, a
Minister who has long championed the idea of localism writ large will
undoubtedly be an invaluable advocate. Even better still, one who has come
fresh from two years at the Whip’s Office.
Indeed, with his new brief including responsibility for planning reform,
housing delivery and housing strategy, his first few months will put him at the
very forefront of the biggest overhaul to the planning system in decades.
Having spent the first few years of his life in the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch,
Stuart Andrew is no stranger to tongue twisters. It can only be hoped that his
long-held opposition to development and his newfound responsibility to deliver
300,000 homes a year is a conundrum he will be able to get his head around.
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