Prime Minister Keir Starmer describes 11,000-home Hemel Garden Communities project as “essential”

Sir Keir was responding to a question from David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today (Wednesday, July 2).

Mr Taylor said he “welcomes” the Government’s commitment to building 1.5m homes across the country before the next General Election.

Sir Keir also agreed with Mr Taylor that the Hemel Garden Communities project “needs to be a mix of genuinely affordable houses to buy, council houses to rent, and be accompanied by the right health, education and road infrastructure”.

The project, a collaboration between Dacorum Borough Council, St Albans City & District Council and Hertfordshire County Council, is expected to bring 10,000 new jobs to the area by 2050.

A masterplan was recently revealed for the 4,000-home East Hemel development, which forms part of the wider garden communities project, with a planning application set to follow this autumn.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Taylor said: “Hemel Hempstead is a New Town that was built by a Labour government after the Second World War and provided decent housing to families like mine.

“Yet 80 years on, the number one issue in my casework is a shortage of housing. I therefore welcome this Government’s commitment to building thousands of new homes.

“In my constituency, we’re looking at a Hemel Gardens Community scheme that could provide 11,000 of them.

“Does the prime minister agree with me that this development needs to be a mix of genuinely affordable houses to buy, council houses to rent, and be accompanied by the right health, education and road infrastructure?

In response, Sir Keir said: “I totally agree with him, and it’s projects like this that are essential to building the 1.5 million homes that we need, whilst at the same time creating vibrant and strong communities.

“In keeping with the Attlee legacy, we’re supporting 47 locally-led garden communities to deliver tens of thousands more homes and, of course delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable houses in a generation.”