I had a very good engagement with the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The CPRE has set out some useful policy detail on the importance of a credible brownfield first policy for increasing housing supply, which I agree with.

In 2010, Government figures showed there were approximately 70,000 hectares of brownfield land that is unused – half of which was considered suitable for housing.

Since then the Tories have completely cut funding for remediation work needed to bring this land back in to use, while at the same time increasing pressure on local authorities to meet new house-building targets. This is having a particular impact on places like St Helens.

In my response to our Local Plan, I made it clear that St Helens Council should commit to the redevelopment of brownfield sites first and phase any release of land to focus developments on previously used sites, with a local register of brownfield sites to ensure we maximise the opportunities to develop them.

I’ll continue to push for a balanced Local Plan which is ambitious for St Helens, Newton-le-Willows and our villages, which encourages people to live, work and visit here, and which first and foremost ensures the best quality of life for local residents with good housing, schools, health and public services and decent transport infrastructure.