Fiona
Bruce MP meets with Prime Minister
Member of
Parliament for Congleton, Fiona Bruce MP, has met with Prime Minister, David Cameron
MP, to raise concerns raised with her by business people in Congleton about the
lack of employment land in and around Congleton.
Fiona Bruce said “Congleton
is a town with many thriving businesses which want to expand. However, the
economic growth of Congleton will be restricted unless land is released to
facilitate this expansion. Leading businesses in Congleton met with me to
highlight their concerns that the economic growth of Congleton is being
restricted by the shortage of employment land, with current sites either having
restricted access or being landlocked. This provides limited opportunity for existing
business growth or inward investment.
Local businesses inform me that hundreds
of potential jobs are currently at risk and more could be jeopardised in future
years. If sufficient land cannot be secured for local business expansion they
will be lost not only to the area but also, to the country. I was sufficiently
concerned about this both for current and future generations in Congleton to
seek a meeting with the Prime Minister to highlight this issue.”
Fiona Bruce added
“Cheshire East Council Officers have had
helpful meetings with myself and local business people to discuss this issue
and I am pleased that the Council has recognised this problem and is doing what
it can to address it, for example, by allocating more land for potential
employment purposes in the draft Local Plan. However, more still needs to be
done including at national level to ensure that land designated in this way can
ultimately be brought forward for business use, and to ensure that there is not
a disproportionate amount of land allocated and developed for housing.”
She continued
“I pointed out to the Prime Minister
that one of the key reasons for National Government having agreed to allocate
£46m towards the development of the Congleton Link Road was to open up
employment opportunities for people in my constituency – this being one of the
key reasons I argued for this funding in the House of Commons during the last
Parliament. I informed the Prime Minister that it is critical that this
objective is not defeated by a lack of land being brought forward for
employment purposes.”
