Tory candidate for North Yorkshire mayor backs Rishi Sunak's 'right homes in the right places' pledge

Welcoming Rishi Sunak’s plan to build the “right homes in the right places”, Keane Duncan pledged to unlock 900 new homes on brownfield sites in his first two years as mayor using £12.7m of funding devolved from Westminster.

He said: “I want more young people and families in York and North Yorkshire to achieve the dream of owning their own home.

“Ensuring our area is affordable for everyone, especially the next generation, inevitably means we must build more - but it is important we get the location right.

“I would unlock responsible development on brownfield sites and deliver 900 new homes in my first two years as mayor."

Mr Duncan, 28, a senior councillor who is the executive member for highways and transportation on North Yorkshire Council, was joined on day one of his campaign by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a show of agreement on working together to build, what they described as “Britain’s first Rural Powerhouse”.

In his bid to win next year’s elections to be mayor, Mr Duncan says he is committed to new housing but not in “beautiful green spaces”.

“The York Central site earmarked for 2,500 homes shows the scale of our ambition,” he said, “but there are many other parcels of abandoned or under-utilised land prime for regeneration.

“We should prioritise building the next generation of family homes on these sites first to ease the pressure on our beautiful green spaces.”

York is run by its own city council which, until elections in May won by the Labour Party, was controlled by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Green Party councillors.

The first Mayor of a York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority is due to be elected in May 2024, as part of local devolution.

The new authority, with the Mayor at its head, will, potentially, have access to hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to spend on transport, education and housing.