Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government under what circumstances office properties which have been empty for six months or longer will be considered for change of use to qualify for conversion to residential homes.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
A national permitted development right (Class MA) provides for the change of use to residential of offices that have been vacant for a continuous period of at least three months. The permitted development right is subject to prior approval by the local planning authority in respect of particular planning matters, such as flooding and transport, and various limitations. Full details of the permitted development right are set out in legislation: The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, as amended.
A planning application is required for any change of use from an office to residential use that falls outside of the scope of the permitted development right, or where the right has been removed by the local planning authority by making an Article 4 direction. Any planning application will be determined in accordance with the local plan and other material considerations.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are any circumstances in which a residential home would be considered as empty where the resident has been unable to sell or is long-term sick and hospitalised.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Properties being sold are not eligible for empty dwellings management orders (EDMOs), nor are the homes of people away from home because they are being cared for in hospital or elsewhere. The full exemptions to EDMOs are set out in guidance available on the Government website and set out a balanced approach between giving local authorities appropriate powers to bring empty homes into use and protecting home owners whose properties may be empty for a period due to personal circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a register for empty properties.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to review the resolution system for disputes between tenants and landlords.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Renters (Reform) Bill) will introduce a new private rented sector Ombudsman, ensuring that tenants and landlords have the same mechanisms to resolve disputes as exist in the social sector through The Housing Ombudsman.
The new Ombudsman will act as an impartial decision-maker to which complaints can be escalated by private tenants where they have been unable to resolve these with their landlord. We are exploring whether the Ombudsman also could provide a mediation service for landlords to resolve disputes with their tenants without needing to take court action.
Through the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, the Government is taking action in the social housing sector to ensure that disputes between tenants and landlords can be resolved more effectively. This includes giving the Ombudsman the powers to issue a code of practice on complaint handling and issue orders to landlords to prevent the recurrence of issues identified through an investigation.
In October 2022, we amended legislation to allow social housing residents with unresolved complaints to access the Housing Ombudsman directly without having to contact a designated person or wait eight weeks.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make water companies statutory consultees in major housing developments.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Whilst we generally resist adding new statutory consultees to the planning application process, the Government has made a commitment, as part of its reform package under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, to consult on whether or not we should make water companies statutory consultees on certain planning applications, and if so, how best to do this. It will be important that water companies engage local planning authorities on their applications at the right time so they can input effectively and not slow down the application process.
The approach to managing and avoiding flood risk is set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, underpinned by our planning guidance. This applies to all sources of flooding, including from overwhelmed sewers and drainage systems. The Framework expects local planning authorities to plan for the development and infrastructure required in their area, including infrastructure for wastewater and utilities. They should work with other providers, such as sewerage companies, to assess the quality and capacity of infrastructure and its ability to meet forecast demands.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government to what extent the Environmental Outcome Reports provided for by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will cover site assessments undertaken as part of the planning process for offshore wind farms.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognise the important role site assessments play in understanding the impact of development and such assessments will fall under the new system of Environmental Outcome Reports (EORs).
An outcomes-based approach will test the acceptability of environmental impacts, with indicators developed to assess how a plan/project supports environmental outcomes set out in in the Environmental Improvement Plan, the Clean Air Strategy, and the UK Marine Strategy. These indicators will measure the expected change due to a plan/project against baseline conditions and wider trend data.
The Bill creates a framework for assessment that can work across the various EIA and SEA regimes - including the nationally significant Infrastructure Planning regime covering offshore wind projects. Further detail will be developed through consultation.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government which environmental tests will be applied in the preparation of Environmental Outcomes Reports as provided for by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognise the important role site assessments play in understanding the impact of development and such assessments will fall under the new system of Environmental Outcome Reports (EORs).
An outcomes-based approach will test the acceptability of environmental impacts, with indicators developed to assess how a plan/project supports environmental outcomes set out in in the Environmental Improvement Plan, the Clean Air Strategy, and the UK Marine Strategy. These indicators will measure the expected change due to a plan/project against baseline conditions and wider trend data.
The Bill creates a framework for assessment that can work across the various EIA and SEA regimes - including the nationally significant Infrastructure Planning regime covering offshore wind projects. Further detail will be developed through consultation.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new residential properties have been constructed within Environment Agency flood zone 2 each year, since the financial year 2012/13.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within each of Environment Agency flood zones 3 and 2 in each financial year since 2012-13 are provided below. Figures for 2012-13 are not available on the same basis due to a change in land use change methodology which took effect from 2013-14.
The most recent available percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within Environment Agency flood zone 3, broken down by local authority area are provided in the attached table.
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Financial year | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zone 3 1 (Per cent) | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zones 2 and 3 2 (Per cent) |
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2013-14 | 7 | 10 |
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2014-15 | 8 | 11 |
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2015-16 | 8 | 11 |
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2016-17 | 8 | 11 |
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2017-18 | 10 | 13 |
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2018-19 | 8 | 11 |
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2019-20 | 9 | 13 |
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2020-21 | 7 | 11 |
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2021-22 | 7 | 10 |
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Sources: |
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1 Live table 320: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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2 Using address data used to derive the land use change - new residential address statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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Although National Flood Zone 2 is a stand-alone category, to be practically useful it is generally combined with National Flood Zone 3 to give a complete picture of areas at 0.1% or more risk of flooding in any given year. Therefore figures are provided for National Flood Zones 2 and 3 combined.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of new residential properties have been constructed within Environment Agency flood zone 3 for the most recent year that data are available, broken down by local planning authority area.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within each of Environment Agency flood zones 3 and 2 in each financial year since 2012-13 are provided below. Figures for 2012-13 are not available on the same basis due to a change in land use change methodology which took effect from 2013-14.
The most recent available percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within Environment Agency flood zone 3, broken down by local authority area are provided in the attached table.
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Financial year | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zone 3 1 (Per cent) | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zones 2 and 3 2 (Per cent) |
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2013-14 | 7 | 10 |
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2014-15 | 8 | 11 |
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2015-16 | 8 | 11 |
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2016-17 | 8 | 11 |
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2017-18 | 10 | 13 |
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2018-19 | 8 | 11 |
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2019-20 | 9 | 13 |
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2020-21 | 7 | 11 |
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2021-22 | 7 | 10 |
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Sources: |
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1 Live table 320: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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2 Using address data used to derive the land use change - new residential address statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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Although National Flood Zone 2 is a stand-alone category, to be practically useful it is generally combined with National Flood Zone 3 to give a complete picture of areas at 0.1% or more risk of flooding in any given year. Therefore figures are provided for National Flood Zones 2 and 3 combined.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new residential properties have been constructed within Environment Agency flood zone 3 each year, since the financial year 2012/13.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within each of Environment Agency flood zones 3 and 2 in each financial year since 2012-13 are provided below. Figures for 2012-13 are not available on the same basis due to a change in land use change methodology which took effect from 2013-14.
The most recent available percentages of new residential addresses created that have been within Environment Agency flood zone 3, broken down by local authority area are provided in the attached table.
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Financial year | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zone 3 1 (Per cent) | Proportion of new residential addresses created within Flood Zones 2 and 3 2 (Per cent) |
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2013-14 | 7 | 10 |
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2014-15 | 8 | 11 |
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2015-16 | 8 | 11 |
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2016-17 | 8 | 11 |
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2017-18 | 10 | 13 |
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2018-19 | 8 | 11 |
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2019-20 | 9 | 13 |
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2020-21 | 7 | 11 |
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2021-22 | 7 | 10 |
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Sources: |
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1 Live table 320: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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2 Using address data used to derive the land use change - new residential address statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/land-use-change-statistics-2021-to-2022 |
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Although National Flood Zone 2 is a stand-alone category, to be practically useful it is generally combined with National Flood Zone 3 to give a complete picture of areas at 0.1% or more risk of flooding in any given year. Therefore figures are provided for National Flood Zones 2 and 3 combined.