At the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would build a series of new towns along with 1.5 million homes, threatening to ignore local opposition to planning applications and “bulldoze through” the planning system in England.

The Labour leader also confirmed his intention to allow new development on green belt land.

More homes are definitely needed for new, affordable rentals and for new home ownership, but this needs to be achieved in a sustainable way and in negotiation with local communities and local councils, not through diktats from Keir Starmer.

If Labour come to power, places like Wellington, Newport and Shifnal will be over-run by bulldozers digging up remaining open spaces and green fields. It would be an all-out attack on Shropshire’s natural beauty.

Not only would be Britain’s countryside be bulldozed, but Keir Starmer has given not a single answer on how he would address hundreds of thousands of new homes creating new demand for GPs, school places, water and sewerage, heavier use of local roads and highways, and the devastating impact on local ecology.