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Rural Communities (Recession)

The Homes and Communities Agency plans to build 10,300 rural homes in three years, and that is a woefully low figure. I wish it were far higher. I urge my hon. Friend not to accept the nonsense from the Opposition, who will not properly address market failure in terms of affordable rural housing, as was highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Mr. Reed). They then come forward with this nonsense about letting local people decide, and we on the Government Benches all know what happens then: Conservative councillors in rural areas oppose all new housing. The Opposition Front Benchers in the House say, "Let's have affordable housing in rural areas." What do Conservatives do on the ground? They oppose it all. It is nonsense. Let us have much more affordable housing in rural areas.