Housing Minister meets Essex Businesses
Witham MP Priti Patel and the Essex Chambers of Commerce hosted a meeting in Parliament [4 March 2019] for the County’s businesses to meet Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP. The Minister attended a meeting of the Essex Business, Transport and Infrastructure Forum (EBTIF) where he gave an overview of the Government’s housing and planning reforms and took questions for those present. The issues discussed included how to speed up the planning process, infrastructure investment to support growth, new homes in Essex and the importance of design and quality in developments.
Priti said: “I was delighted to welcome the Housing Minister to our meeting with businesses from Essex. We had a full and productive discussion on housing and planning and the County’s businesses questioned the Minister in detail on the changes we need to see to support growth. Planning has a crucial role to play in developing new housing and commercial opportunities and we discussed the significant economic benefits that investing in new infrastructure will bring.”
“I was pleased to host the meeting with the brilliant Essex Chambers of Commerce and continue to work with them to campaign for the infrastructure our County needs to support business growth and investment.”
Denise Rossiter, Chief Executive of the Essex Chambers of Commerce, commented:
“I am grateful to the Minister for meeting with a wide range of Chamber members. Much of the discussions focused on housing needs which is key to the futures of them and their employees. It also impacts on our local road networks and this timely meeting provided an opportunity to get the message across to the Government that businesses want to see more joined up thinking in the provision of both”