Ben Maguire raises Bodmin infrastructure ’emergency’ with minister

A housebuilder’s name, a six-figure sum, and a direct question to the minister in charge of housing: that’s what North Cornwall’s MP took to the despatch box this week, and the clip of him doing it is below.

A £350,000 question over Wain Homes

Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, has raised what he calls an “infrastructure emergency” facing his constituency with Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook. At the centre of it is a Bodmin case involving Wain Homes, which Ben Maguire says is now seeking to withdraw more than £350,000 in funding it had promised for schools, healthcare and other infrastructure in the town.

Ben Maguire says he had already written directly to Matthew Pennycook about the case, alongside Cornwall Councillors Dan Rogerson, Leigh Frost and Chris Batters, before raising it again in the House of Commons.

More than 3,000 homes due by 2030

Ben Maguire says more than 3,000 new homes are due to be built across his constituency by 2030, and he used the Wain Homes case to press the minister on giving Cornwall “greater control over infrastructure levies” as part of the ongoing devolution talks between Cornwall and central government, an issue that sits squarely under housing policy.

‘Cornwall lacks a basic level of infrastructure’

Ben Maguire’s intervention came, he says, just one week after Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged that “Cornwall lacks a basic level of infrastructure which in turn harms growth and holds back living standards and life chances.”

What Ben Maguire told the Commons

Commenting, Ben Maguire said:

“North Cornwall faces an infrastructure emergency. Bodmin is far from the only example across our constituency, and I’ve previously written directly to the Minister about this specific case, alongside local Cornwall Councillors Dan Rogerson, Leigh Frost and Chris Batters. I was pleased to follow up on this in the Commons and demand answers.”

“The Prime Minister himself admits Cornwall ‘lacks basic infrastructure,’ something we’ve known here, and dealt with the realities of, for far too long. If we’re serious about addressing the emergency we face, then Cornwall urgently needs much greater control over infrastructure levies, similar to other local authorities. This is exactly the kind of power I’ll be keeping firmly in mind as our devolution talks continue.”

📷Ben Maguire MP addressing the House of Commons. Credit: Ben Maguire MP