‘YIMBY’ Labour MP Serially Blocking Solar Farms and New Homes in Constituency – Guido Fawkes

‘YIMBY’ Labour MP Serially Blocking Solar Farms and New Homes in Constituency

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Rother Valley Labour MP Jake Richards has been keen to talk about being part of a party that’s getting Britain building. He’s a proud member of the Labour Growth Group, even signed a letter to Keir Starmer last July urging him to defy NIMBYs and embrace a planning “revolution.” If only that enthusiasm extended to his own backyard…

Richards – the nepo-baby son of a former New Statesman political editor Steve Richards – has objected to every development proposal in his own constituency. Keen to keep the local NIMBY brigade onside, he’s opposed plans for hundreds of new homes in his own village, moaning on Facebook about overdevelopment, traffic, green space, and even light pollution. He declared:

“I do not support these plans and will try my utmost to protect Hellaby… the amount of traffic and noise it would cause is not acceptable.”

He also continually expressed his “concerns” over plans for a solar farm in Whitestone – despite it being a Nationally Significant Infrastructure project – and wrote to Rotherham Council objecting to a quarry project, citing the usual traffic and environmental excuses. If Starmer wants to take on the blockers he should probably start with his own backbenches…