LABOUR Shadow Housing Minister John Healey visited the Keighley and Ilkley constituency last week to discuss Labour's housing policy and to support Labour parliamentary candidate John Grogan.

Mr Healey said: "Over the next Parliament a Labour Government will invest to build over a million homes. We will prioritise brownfield sites and protect the green belt. We will start work on a new generation of New Towns to build the homes we need and avoid urban sprawl. For private renters we will end insecurity for private renters by introducing controls on rent rises, more secure tenancies, introduce landlord licensing by councils such as Bradford and new consumer rights for renters."

Mr Grogan added: "Under the last Labour Government there was a policy of brownfield first which under John Prescott got the proportion of new housing built on brownfield land to a historic high of above 70 per cent. If elected as Keighley's MP I will certainly be making this issue one of my top priorities. The threat to Ilkley's precious green belt ultimately comes not from City Hall in Bradford but from national policy set in Whitehall."