Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to legislate to exempt Community Land Trusts from leasehold enfranchisement.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market. In January we announced reforms to the valuation process and length of lease extensions, in response to Law Commission recommendations.
The Law Commission’s report on enfranchisement includes recommendations relating to the qualifying criteria for enfranchisement and lease extensions, including the applicability of these to community led housing. We will bring forward a response to these and the other remaining Law Commission recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the role played by community land trusts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the future contribution of such trusts to economic recovery; and what support they have provided, and intend to provide, to such trusts.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has not made any systematic assessment of the role played by community land trusts (CLTs) specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, but recognises that CLTs make a valuable contribution in organising and delivering support of various kinds for members of the community in need. For example, CLTs are able to support small, local construction companies and local supply chains, and help sustain local economies by providing homes that are affordable at local income levels.
Since 2016, the Government has supported CLTs (and other forms of community-led housing organisations) through the Community Housing Fund. Through the support provided by Homes England outside London, the Community Housing Fund has succeeded in building up a delivery pipeline of over 10,000 homes that can be delivered relatively quickly once capital funding is made available.
The Community Housing Fund closed at the end of March. Ministers are considering all budgets in the round and allocations for 2020/21 will be confirmed at Main Estimates in the next few weeks. Allocations for future years will be considered at the forthcoming Spending Review. Some community-led housing schemes will be able to obtain capital funding from the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, also delivered by Homes England.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are in a position to announce the mechanism for distributing the second year of funding from the Community House Fund.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The annual £60 million Community Housing Fund was launched on 23 December 2016 to put local groups who know their area’s needs best in the driving seat and help them deliver housing that is affordable to the local community. For the 2016/17 financial year, grants were awarded to 148 local authorities which were particularly affected by local affordability issues or high rates of second home ownership. My officials have been working up proposals for the delivery of the Fund from 2017/18 and an announcement will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
Her Majesty's Government when they will announce the mechanism for distributing the second year of funding from the Community House Fund; and when they expect the number of houses built by Community Land Trusts and others to increase as a result of that funding.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Community Housing Fund was launched on 23 December 2016 to put local groups who know their area’s needs best in the driving seat and help them deliver housing that is affordable to the local community. My officials are working up proposals and a decision on how the Fund will be delivered from 2017/18 will be made in due course.
In 2016/17, over 140 local authorities received grants under the Fund for a wide variety of purposes relating to increasing the capacity of the community-led housing sector in their areas as well as directly supporting the delivery of specific community-led housebuilding projects. We anticipate the first completions from schemes supported in this way to come through early next year.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received representations regarding a specific case in which parish councillors who are also members of a Community Land Trust (CLT) have been told to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest even though the CLT is legally established as a not-for-profit Industrial and Provident Society that requires members to take out £5 par value (not investment) shares and allows no income for members or directors from its activities.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We are not aware of having received representations on such a case. The national rules on local authority members’ pecuniary interests, as set out in the Localism Act 2011, require local authority members, including parish councillors, to register and disclose certain pecuniary interests, as defined in the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012. A guide for councillors on openness and transparency on personal interests is available on my department’s web-site. Local authority members who contact my department for advice are directed to the regulations and to the guide and are advised to contact the monitoring officer of their relevant local authority, who can advise them on their specific queries.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to discuss European structural and investment funding with the Local Government Association and other interested parties.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government meets regularly with representatives of the Local Government Association and other partners, who are members of national and local European Structural and Investment Funds committees where these EU funds are discussed.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of any situations where trustees of community land trusts who are also members of parish councils have been prevented from carrying out their duties due to their interests being inaccurately declared as personal and prejudicial, and if so, what advice they plan to provide to all involved to resolve such situations.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are non-profit local organisations set up and run by local people to develop and manage homes and other community assets. They will be regulated according to the specific legal form they have decided is appropriate for their objectives. Consequently, the Department does not retain any central records on CLTs or their trustees.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people are in need of affordable homes and whether those homes are for rent or to buy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Department does not publish forecasts of affordable housing need.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homes have been built on flood plains in each of the last five years; and how many homes have been granted planning permission for building on flood plains.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This Government takes flood prevention extremely seriously and we are investing £2.3 billion in flood defences over the next six years, as well as protecting flood maintenance spending in real terms over this Parliament.
We have put in place strong safeguards to stop inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding, and are delivering the homes this country needs by taking forward plans to build homes on suitable brownfield land.
The Environment Agency provides advice on whether or not to grant permission, with latest figures showing 99% of proposed new homes had planning outcomes in line with their advice, but final decisions rest with local authorities.
The Department does not collect figures for the numbers of homes for which planning permission for building on a flood plain has been granted.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have conducted a full assessment of the impact of the proposed one per cent cut in rent for social housing tenants on the eight Community Land Trusts (CLTs) that are Registered Providers and whether they will take steps to ensure exemptions for CLTs.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is committed to reducing welfare spending and is confident that registered providers will be able to adapt and manage these changes. The Welfare Reform and Work Bill provides for registered providers to apply for an exemption from the rent reductions if their financial viability is jeopardised. However, we do not expect providers to budget on the basis that an exemption will be automatically granted, as they should be making all possible efforts to manage the reductions.
The Government has made an assessment of the impact of the rent reduction measures (attached). This is at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006F.pdf.