Childcare should be classed as necessary ‘infrastructure’, say MPs

Plan would mean new developments must have sufficient provision of free or subsidised childcare up to age 11

A cross-party group of MPs is seeking to change the law so childcare is treated as an infrastructure issue like schools, GPs and public transport, placing a duty on major housebuilders to ensure new developments have sufficient provision to match an expanding population.

The plan, led by the Labour MP Stella Creasy, comes as an amendment to the levelling up and regeneration bill, which returns to the Commons on Tuesday for the final part of its committee stage.