Changes to the planning system suggested by the Conservatives will dash the hopes of thousands of Cambridge people hoping for new homes, says Cambridge Labour Parliamentary candidate Daniel Zeichner. The Tory Green paper, unveiled yesterday, promises to scrap the targets for affordable housing set by Labour, and to use what the Conservatives call “collaborative democracy” to make local decisions.

The proposals have been given a major thumbs-down by planning experts. Mr Zeichner, who is a member of Labour’s Policy Commission on Housing and Planning policy, says that the proposals are astonishingly naive and won’t work:

“The Conservatives just don’t understand the problem. We have large housing waiting lists and many people unable to afford the homes they want to buy. Conservative councils have fought tooth and nail to stop Labour’s house-building programmes. The problem in Cambridge is lack of investor confidence, and these planning proposals will only make that worse. The best hope for many young people in need of a home is a decisive win for Labour in the General Election, so that the industry can have certainty that current plans will go ahead.”