Nicola Jones, Kenilworth & Southam Constituency Labour Party Chair, writes in defence of the South Warwickshire Local Plan.

The town council has announced more spending to help control development in Kenilworth.

Councillor [James] Kennedy is right that developers are taking advantage of the current shortage of land allocated for housing.

But the answer is not to spend more taxpayers' money fighting individual developments while opposing the very plan designed to bring development under control.

Opposing the South Warwickshire Local Plan (SWLP) while complaining about speculative development is contradictory.

An adopted, up-to-date plan is one of the principal ways to reduce the uncertainty developers are currently exploiting.

The SWLP will identify where development should take place and establish clearer requirements for infrastructure, environmental protection and sustainable communities.

It will give the district council a stronger basis for making decisions and holding developers to account.

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Labour believes we need more homes, particularly affordable homes, but they must be built with the schools, healthcare, transport and other infrastructure communities need.

The town council has already spent £6,000 opposing the plan and now proposes spending up to another £10,000 on consultants.

Wouldn't that money be better spent preparing to ensure that the plan delivers the affordable homes, infrastructure and environmental protections Kenilworth needs?

We need a strong, adopted local plan that puts communities, not developers, in the driving seat.

Kenilworth needs constructive leadership, not political point-scoring.