There has been growning concerns amongst constituents about the increasing problem of unauthorised construction of green belt land. Graham working hard with local residents, councillors and Minister to call for proposals to tackle the problem. Graham is calling for measures to:

• The creation of a new criminal offence of international trespass, as already in place in the Republic of Ireland.

• Curtail the ability to apply for retrospective planning permission. This will stop the practice of people laying down concrete on weekends or bank holidays and then applying for planning permission.

• Scrap John Prescott’s unfair Whitehall planning rules, which are compelling councils to build traveller camps on the Green Belt and compulsory purchase people’s land to find sites.

• Give tougher ‘stop notice’ enforcement powers to councils with authorised sites and give support central funding for councils to build authorised sites – rather than being funded by local taxpayers.

Graham said “People want to see fair play in the planning process, with everyone being treated equally and even-handedly. It is clear that the last Labour Government’s policies undermined community relations and left people legitimately feeling that the system was unjust.”