Last year I started asking why we were not using brownfield sites in our area for housebuilding and particularly for affordable/social housing working with organisations such as Durham Villages Regeneration Company. I visited a couple of sites with a director and head of housing and have brought this up with various other councillors and officers.

Today I sent an email to the Director of Regeneration, Head of Housing and Head of Planning asking whether any of my requests have been taken on board. It seems crazy to be proposing to build in the greenbelt, when we are not using council owned brownfield land to build some housing and boost the economy. I await the reply.