However the Conservative Party leader admitted to the Dispatch she was completely unaware of the 21,000-home ‘new town’ being planned by the government for the area, reports James Cracknell

Conservate Party leader Kemi Badenoch poses for a selfie with local activists — Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch poses for a selfie with local activists in Crews Hill

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch visited Crews Hill today (Wednesday 6th) on the eve of the local election – but didn’t seem to know why she had been invited there.

Badenoch was urged to visit the area by the Enfield Conservatives, who have made their opposition to new homes being built on the Green Belt a central issue of their election campaign.

It was confirmed late yesterday (Tuesday 5th) that the former secretary of state for business would drop into Crews Hill to meet local activists and visit one of the many garden centres the Labour-run council plans to issue with compulsory purchase orders so new homes can be built instead.

But after receiving a tour of Thompsons of Crews Hill and even helping out on the till, Badenoch drew a blank when asked by the Dispatch about Labour’s plans for thousands of homes in the area, and what her thoughts were on it.

“Er, well, this is very local sorry, I am going all around the country so I don’t know,” Badenoch told the Dispatch.

She was then asked directly if she knew about the ‘new town’.

“No I don’t, but give me the background and then I can give you,” the Tory leader said, before the Dispatch explained that the government was planning to build 21,000 homes on the Green Belt in Enfield and likely evict scores of horticultural businesses – such as the one she was currently visiting.

“Oh my goodness,” said Badenoch. “Well, that is one of the things I have been talking about just today in Bromley – a similar situation about building on Green Belt, instead of building on the areas where there is infrastructure.

“We do need to make sure that urban sprawl isn’t something that’s allowed. I think Labour have been very lazy and haven’t really thought through a lot of their plans on housing and I know that this is something that the local Conservatives are fighting the Labour councils on.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch on the tills at Thompsons of Crews Hill

There is no new town planned for Bromley but proposals have recently been revealed for 2,000 homes on Metropolitan Green Belt in the south-east London borough.

This would be less than 10% of the size of the housing development planned on Enfield’s Green Belt, however.

It’s not clear why Badenoch had knowledge of a much smaller Green Belt housing scheme in Bromley but not the 21,000-home new town planned for Crews Hill, which is set to become one of just seven new towns around the country if the government-led plans go ahead.

It’s now thought that around 95 local business, employing many hundreds of people, are under threat from the new town – including Thompsons of Crews Hill, which the Conservative Party leader was visiting today.

Badenoch continued: “I think there is an underestimation of how important businesses are to the economy. That’s where growth comes from, that’s how you create jobs.

“So [we would oppose] anything which just destroys business, which is something Labour has been doing through all sorts of policies, whether it’s increasing employer national insurance, a lot of the changes to minimum wage thresholds – people are going on welfare but not working and we have got to fix that.”

Labour council leader Ergin Erbil has previously dismissed concerns around the loss of Green Belt and threats to local businesses in Crews Hill and enthusiastically endorsed the government’s plans, which he says will help solve the borough’s housing crisis and provide new homes of young people currently struggling to get on the property ladder.

The local election takes place tomorrow (Thursday 7th), with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm. All voters must bring valid photographic ID with them. Counting begins on Friday morning – updates from the civic centre will be available via the Dispatch website throughout the day.

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