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She spoke after council bosses moved to back building the homes in Solihull, Knowle and Bentley Heath – despite being given new powers not to.
Labour had set strict targets in house building – but the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government says councils will be able to decide.
Proposed sites include land to the back of Arden School and Knowle Primary School in Knowle and Four Ashes Road in Bentley Heath. Click here for a map.
Liberal Democrat MP Mrs Burt said: “People need homes and in particular in Solihull, affordable homes.
“But we know locally what we need and we don’t need central government to tell us.”
Yet she said the Government ought to re-think a bid to abolish region-wide plans, for example for the West Midlands.
These ‘regional spatial strategies’ were demanded by Labour and involved councils working together to find a common approach to development.
She told the Commons that ‘some areas do need a regional strategy…and it is important that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater’.
Fellow coalition MP, Conservative Caroline Spelman, has given the plans a more cautious welcome.
She said: “While I support home-building, it has to reflect the views of local people.”
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council says it is pressing ahead with the plans to ‘meet local needs’.
They hope that by earmarking the sites now, it will allow them to refuse plans for homes on other sites they consider inappropriate.
A private developer would build the homes but would need permission from the council, the planning authority.
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