In a crowded banquet hall in Scotland, the great Victorian Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli gave a speech in which he sought to outline his political philosophy.

He said: “In a progressive change is a constant, and the great question is not whether you should resist change which is inevitable, but whether that change should be carried out in deference to the manners, the customs, the laws and the traditions of a people”.

This is the real source of human freedom and happiness.

In short, Disraeli believed that the job of Conservatives was neither to embrace or stop change but work to preserve and adapt those institutions that sustain human flourishing.

In practice, this meant a conservatism that provided generous welfare to the poor while at the same time bolstering custom, tradition, law and religion.

As a Conservative MP more than 140 years later, I fundamentally share this view.

As I’m writing this article on the wall is a picture of the great Emily Bronte, and it is to her that I defer in just one of those institutions that sustain human flourishing.

For Emily, that was the countryside around her in Haworth and on the moors.

These open spaces were a release from the newly urban and industrialised village of Haworth where she lived together with Bradford and Keighley beyond.

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”

My point is that the green spaces around you are as fundamental to your sense of self, community and even political values.

For me, the countryside around Bury especially those areas at Walshaw and Elton Reservoir are as important to who we are and what we are as welcome technological advancements or other benefits of modernisation.

Places For Everyone (the huge Greater Manchester housing plan) threatens to destroy countryside that has been part of the life of everyone who has ever lived or worked in our area.

I urge Bury Council to act upon this week’s announcement by the government that when calculating housing need- “It will be up to local authorities, working with their communities, to determine how many houses can actually be built, taking into account what should be protected in each area.”

As Disraeli said, we should embrace the need to build more houses, but they should be the type that is both needed and affordable for local people on brownfield sites.

Together, with ensuring we protect those areas of the countryside that reflect the traditions of the town and sustain human flourishing. I think both Benjamin Disraeli and Emily Bronte would approve.