Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 13 January be approved.

Relevant document: 15th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in Grand Committee on 3 March.

Motion agreed.

Non-Domestic Rating (Levy and Safety Net) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 6 February be approved.

Considered in Grand Committee on 3 March.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, with the leave of the House and on behalf of my noble friend Lord Khan, I beg to move the Motion standing in his name on the Order Paper.

Motion agreed.

Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Monday 3rd March 2025 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025.

Relevant document: 15th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were laid before the House on 13 January 2025. These draft regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications. This will provide essential extra funds to local planning authorities and improve the efficiency of our planning system. This is vital to speed up decision-making and support the Government’s plan of building 1.5 million homes and delivering economic growth.

I will start by providing some context and background to these regulations. Currently, the income from planning fees does not cover the cost to local planning authorities of determining applications. Overall, there is a national funding shortfall of approximately £362 million, the burden of which is borne by the general taxpayer. By increasing fees for applications with the greatest funding shortfalls, we can cover a greater proportion of the costs associated with processing these applications.

It is estimated that these fee increases will generate an additional £56 million annually for local planning authorities. This is a substantial sum that will significantly enhance the capacity and efficiency of our planning services.

We consulted on proposals to increase fees in July 2024. Respondents were generally supportive of our proposals, recognising the need to boost the funds available to local planning authorities, if this leads to improvements in planning performance. Noble Lords will realise that the Local Government Association has long campaigned for increases in planning fees.

I now turn to the detail of the regulations. First, they increase the fees for householders who want to enlarge, extend or alter their home from £258 to £528 for a single house and from £509 to £1,043 for more than one house. I recognise that some may consider that, during times of economic pressures for householders, we should not be increasing planning fees. However, in light of the clear funding shortfall that exists, it is right that applicants should contribute more towards the costs incurred by local planning authorities in delivering a planning service, rather than the taxpayer funding it.

We estimate that, in most cases, the cost of the planning application is less than 1% of overall development costs. Furthermore, some householder development can already be undertaken through permitted development rights and so would not be subject to a planning application fee.

The regulations also increase fees for a range of other application types, which currently are set too low. They increase the planning fees for prior approval applications from a flat fee of £120 to £240 and from £258 to £516 where they include building operations, and for the change of use of commercial buildings to residential uses from £125 per dwelling to £250 per dwelling. The regulations also increase the fees for discharge of conditions from £43 to £86 for householders and from £145 to £298 for all other applications, including discharge of biodiversity gain plans.

Finally, the regulations introduce a new three-tiered fee structure for Section 73 applications that are used to vary or remove conditions on planning applications. This reflects the higher costs associated with Section 73 applications on major developments. The regulations also make corrections to two fees that were erroneously set too low when the fee regulations were last amended in 2023. These regulations do not impose a fee on listed building consents, which continue to incur no fee.

I want to be clear that the Government expect local planning authorities to use the income from planning fees on their planning application service, so that they can build up their capability and capacity and improve performance. We know that this is what applicants expect in return for paying higher fees. In addition to these fee increases, the Government have committed to a £46 million package to enhance the capacity and capability of local planning officers. This includes recruiting 300 additional planners. I recognise that there is no planning officer tree where we can go and pick them; this is going to take a little time.

The Government have also announced their intention to introduce a measure in the planning and infrastructure Bill that will enable local planning authorities to set their own planning fees to meet their costs. This comprehensive approach ensures that local planning authorities are not only better funded but better equipped to handle the demands placed on them.

To summarise, while we take forward our measures for local fee setting, these regulations will provide local planning authorities with an immediate boost in resourcing. This will enable local planning authorities to budget with more confidence and be better equipped to deliver the housing and growth that our country needs. I hope that noble Lords will join me in supporting the draft regulations, which I commend to the Committee.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, the Liberal Democrats wholeheartedly support this rise in planning fees, so I apologise now for repeating some of the very good points that the Minister made. She should not expect me to keep saying that for ever, but I do on this occasion.

We have all known for years that planning departments are underfunded; they are not covering their costs, and the position is simply unsustainable. I am interested that the Government have decided to go for an interim position rather than a full cost recovery. I can kind of understand their wanting it to be balanced, but I wonder whether the work has been done on what will be needed to get to that position, which we believe we should get to.

As the Minister said, planning departments have long been subsidised by the taxpayer through council tax; they have been bearing the burden of the costs of planning applications, which do not directly benefit them—particularly for individual householder applications. It seems completely illogical that everyone should contribute to an individual’s home improvements, which usually add value to just their property.

We welcome the change of emphasis from the last Government, who did at least increase the fees in December 2023—but I always felt that their agenda seemed to be to keep fees down. I note that a Conservative Member of Parliament in the other place described the rise as “eye-watering”. My riposte is that he clearly does not know what builders are charging these days, as the planning fee, which is an essential tool to getting the development right, is but a tiny fraction of the total cost. Two friends have recently had extensions to their homes, and when I hear how much they spent on the projects as a whole, I feel that £528 is probably the lowest in the grand scheme of their costs.

Major housebuilders are demonstrably making money, and their applications take the most time and expertise, so a rise to begin to cover costs seems entirely reasonable—more so given the financial challenges that local government faces. Some of the pre-app talks and site visits can be really extensive and time consuming.

If we have a concern regarding sustainability, it is about the recruitment and retention of planners. The ambition to recruit 300 new planners is laudable and welcome, and it seems churlish to point out the fact that it equates to just one planner per authority—but that is the reality. The Home Builders Federation pointed out, through a freedom of information request, that 80% of local planning authorities are operating below capacity.

The recruitment and retention problem is exacerbated by differential salaries. The best young graduates appear to be snapped up by the major housebuilders, as they can afford to pay significantly more than local authorities. Especially in areas of high house prices, that can make recruitment even more of a challenge.

The Minister will know that some local authorities are working together to look for solutions by co-operating rather than working against each other, competing for the same people and even poaching. Career opportunities can be better for an individual if they can work across several councils, especially with smaller districts.

The RTPI has pointed an important fact—that there is a lack of robust data on how many planning officers we have in each region and local planning area. Accurate data would help to pinpoint where resources and training are most needed, so perhaps the Minister could give us some more detail on the changes to the Pathways to Planning programme.

We think that all these increases are necessary and overdue, and accept that it is sensible to tie this to an annual increase. The fact that previous rises were not index-linked was part of the problem. The gap between the cost of processing an application and the fees charged has widened significantly over time.

There has been some talk of monitoring and ring-fencing of funds. Because of the parlous situation of local government funding, will local authorities rob Peter to pay Paul? In my experience, most councils will honour the intentions of government when money is handed out for specific needs, and we see no reason why that would not be the case here, without the need to mandate it or introduce checks. This Government are committed to decentralisation, so it is essential to let go and trust local authorities. Trying to micromanage budgets could be unnecessarily overbearing. We believe that councils should make all their own spending decisions. The Government already have mechanisms in place to monitor planning performance.

The Minister was right to point out that councils get no fees from the massive extension to permitted development rights, yet when there are problems with those conversions, the planners are drafted in to give advice and help to put things right. The key is that if there had been a need to obtain planning permission, the issues would have been sorted out right at the beginning. Will the forthcoming planning Bill be more helpful in this regard? We hope so, and in particular we look forward to allowing local planning authorities to set their own planning fees to meet their costs. A degree of flexibility to adjust to local circumstances and needs is essential.

--- Later in debate ---

As was mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, planning officers can be like hen’s teeth. I am very pleased that the Minister for Skills has come into the Room, because one of the keys to this is that many councils would like to develop more of their own planning officers but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, mentioned, we may take them through an apprenticeship process for them to be immediately poached. It is important that, when we look at the apprenticeship system and the apprenticeship levy, there should be more flexibility in how councils use them to encourage more apprentices and for councils not to be just training schools for the private sector.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am very grateful to noble Lords for their helpful comments and overall support for this increase in planning fees. As I said, it is something that the Local Government Association and the local government community have campaigned on for some time. Before I go into some of the other specific issues, I too am glad that my noble friend from the Department for Education is here; the issue of skills and the development of skills in planning is critical to driving that key mission of delivering the 1.5 million homes that we know are desperately needed in the country.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, raised the sufficiency of the fee increase. These increases have been targeted to those applications with the greatest funding shortfalls, and that is why this interim measure has been structured in this way. Those applications constitute the greatest proportion of applications received by local planning authorities so, as I said in my introduction, this will provide them with an immediate and significant boost, then the planning and infrastructure Bill will set the wider framework when we come to it. As the noble Baroness said, planning fees represent only about 1% of development costs and we do not consider that burden disproportionate.

Both noble Lords raised the issue of capacity and capability in the planning system. It is worth repeating that we have put together a £46 million package of investment. My noble friend Lady Smith of Malvern set up Skills England so that we can try to attract more people to be planners, and that funding will provide the recruitment and training of 300 additional planners and the development of the skills needed. We have already recruited a cohort of around 20 senior built environment professionals, across a range of specialisms, to work directly with and advise local authorities, and with Homes England as our delivery partner. We are also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to make sure that local planning authorities have the skills and capacity that they need. I am very pleased that the Construction Industry Training Board has also stepped up and put some money towards this project.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, mentioned that accurate data is needed and asked me for an update on Pathways to Planning. We fund the Local Government Association’s Pathways to Planning and, on 27 February, we announced an allocation of £4.5 million for the Local Government Association’s initiative to fund salary bursaries for new planning roles in councils. I hope that gives her some indication of where we are going with that.

The noble Baroness mentioned ring-fencing. We are not specifically ring-fencing planning fees, but we have been clear that we expect the income from planning fees to be retained and directly invested in the delivery of planning application services. Ring-fencing will be considered as part of the longer-term plans that will enable local planning authorities to set their own planning fees, but the noble Baroness is quite right that, as local authorities face a difficult financial position at the moment, they should have the flexibility to decide where their funding is going.

The noble Baroness also mentioned permitted development rights. We know that national permitted development rights play a role in the planning system, but we acknowledge that there has been criticism of them, particularly those that enable a range of commercial buildings, such as offices, shops and agricultural buildings, to change use, including to residential use. There have been some good examples of that, but there have also been some pretty poor ones. We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.

The noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, raised the important issue of why this increase is focused on householders. We are increasing the fees for householders because these have the greatest funding shortfalls, as I said. The fees for major applications are estimated more closely to cover the costs to local planning authorities. It is not possible to increase fees for developers above cost-recovery levels in order to cover the costs of other applications. That is the reason for this measure. The forthcoming planning and infrastructure Bill will enable planning authorities to set their own planning fees, but we have to take action now to address the funding shortfalls. To support our measures to enable planning authorities to set their own planning fees, we will undertake a benchmarking exercise to establish the robust baseline that we need for full cost recovery of all planning fees.

The noble Lord mentioned the key issue of small builders and medium-sized enterprises. We recognise the need for a diverse housing market sector that can respond to local needs. SMEs are an indispensable part of our housebuilding sector. We know that they have a vital role in making the housing market more diverse and resilient and contribute to housing supply by building out the majority of small sites. I have had great personal experiences—as I am sure both noble Lords have had in their areas—of SMEs making a big contribution.

Through our planning reforms, we are committed to ensuring that the right support is in place for SMEs, and we have engaged extensively with the sector to better understand existing challenges. On 12 December last year, we published the revised NPPF, which makes clear the necessity of ensuring that sufficient small sites are made available to support SME housebuilders and to better enable authorities to support that community-led development. We are committed to strengthening small sites policy and providing additional support for SME housebuilders with further measures later this year.

Planning performance is a key issue, as mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson. How do we ensure that increased fees result in better performance by local authorities? In return for increasing planning fees, we expect local authorities to invest more in their planning services to deliver better performance. We will continue to monitor the performance of local planning authorities through the planning performance dashboard and quarterly planning statistics. The planning performance regime ensures that underperforming local planning authorities are held to account; it is an important way of making sure that that happens.

The noble Lord referred to the new NPPF and to simplification and clarity in the planning system. It is a complicated system—I understand that. We attempted to simplify the system with the NPPF, and we will continue to look at what further measures are necessary. When we get the planning and infrastructure Bill, we will hopefully be able to clarify the system further for everybody who needs to use it. If I have not covered any points, I will look at Hansard and reply in writing.

In conclusion, the proposed increase in fees is a necessary and timely measure. It addresses a critical funding shortfall faced by our local planning authorities and will help provide them with the resources they need to deliver improved services. This will benefit householders, businesses, developers and, ultimately, all of us, as the economy grows and more homes are built. I hope the Committee will welcome these important regulations.

Motion agreed.

Private Rented Sector: Affordable Rents

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

Before we proceed, may I just remind colleagues that this is called Question Time for a reason. We want questions, so that the Minister can give an answer.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government entirely understand concerns about the affordability of rents. We have inherited a private rented sector that is failing many low-income renters. The Renters’ Rights Bill will empower tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, as well as taking practical steps to end the practice of rental bidding and prohibiting landlords from demanding large amounts of upfront rent. In addition, the Government are committed to building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England over this Parliament. This boost to supply is critical to improving housing affordability.

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

I thank the Minister for her response, but current rents remain unaffordable for the 34% of renters in poverty—a figure likely to rise with the freeze of local housing allowance. Private rents increased by more than 8% last year and market rates are already out of reach for so many. The First-tier Tribunal will not resolve any of these issues. Are the Government considering any form of rent stabilisation?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. We have discussed this in the Chamber before, and the Government have been clear: we do not support rent controls. Heavy-handed rent controls tend to mean higher rents at the start of a tenancy, and they can make it much harder for prospective tenants to find a home. They also encourage the growth of unregulated sub-letting, which can leave the most vulnerable tenants very exposed to higher costs and minimal protections. Those rent controls always come at a cost, often in reduced investment in housing supply and quality standards. We prefer to use this mechanism to strengthen tenants’ rights.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is participating remotely. I invite him to speak.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, has my noble friend seen the very interesting briefing from UNISON, which has 1.3 million members? The brief calls for measures to stop escalating rents; increased enforcement and the regulation of landlords and their agents; changes to the benefits system, incentivising work; and measures to end the right to buy in conditions of housing shortage. We urgently need to find a way to ensure that rents in the private sector become affordable. Could Ministers arrange to meet UNISON representatives to discuss their very interesting proposals for reform?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for his question. Of course, I am always happy to meet with trade union colleagues, particularly on important issues such as this. I thank him too for his reminder of the information in that UNISON report. Many of the issues raised in it are being tackled in the Renters’ Rights Bill, and in the leasehold and commonhold reform Bill which we will be bringing forward later in the year. On the right to buy, we have already taken significant steps to make sure that the funds from the sale of social housing go back to those councils to enable them to build more social housing.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, further to the Question from the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, rents in the private sector are rising because supply is falling as many smaller landlords decide to sell up. While there is much of value in the Renters’ Rights Bill, there is nothing in it to increase supply, which is what tenants want. Will the Minister turbocharge the discussions between her department, the Treasury and the pension funds and insurance companies in order to get serious, long-term institutional finance into good quality accommodation for rent and to redress the imbalance between supply and demand?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question and for all his expertise on this subject. A few weeks ago, I attended an investors’ summit in the City of London where there was great enthusiasm about investment in the housing market. We welcome those institutional investors and recognise the crucial role that the build-to-rent sector in particular is playing in building those 1.5 million homes. Last year, we announced a £700 million extension to the home building fund to support housebuilders and to catalyse that institutional investment. This should support the construction of 12,000 more homes, including build-to-rent. We also announced a £3 billion guarantee for SME and build-to-rent housebuilders through the reopening of guarantee schemes, which should deliver the construction of around 20,000 new homes.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

My Lords, could the Government also turbocharge getting rid of Section 21, which legalises insecurity in the lives of people paying rent?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with the noble Lord about the insecurity that Section 21 presents. It is also a huge economic burden on local councils as they pick up the tab for emergency accommodation coming out of Section 21 evictions. That is why our Renters’ Rights Bill contains clear proposals to get rid of Section 21 once and for all.

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

My Lords, in some areas, selective licensing schemes have been introduced because of the poor performance of private landlords. They can make a real difference in improving standards. Would my noble friend the Minister consider looking at best practice in those schemes, and at whether local authorities could be encouraged to adopt them in areas where landlords are poorly serving their tenants?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am pleased to commend those local authorities which have taken steps to regulate private housing in their areas through the use of selective licensing schemes. We continue to look at how we might better support that going forward.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, as my noble friend Lord Young of Cookham said, when supply goes down and demand goes up, prices increase. What assessment have the Government made of reports that landlords are leaving the rental market at the highest rate ever? Many are citing rental reforms as their reason for leaving.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

If I am honest with the noble Lord, I think the pressures on housing come from 14 years of not taking the housing market seriously. We have carefully assessed what the impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill might be, and we do not believe that it will have a significant impact on the supply of private rented housing in the market. Supply has been consistent for several years, and we want to maintain that and to make sure that the Renters’ Rights Bill delivers the right balance of support for both landlords and tenants. There are many really good landlords, and we want to give them the help and support they need through the Bill, as well as supporting our tenants.

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, market rents in the private rented sector are often unaffordable for those on low incomes, which is why I greatly welcome the Government’s announcement this month of more funds for social housing. Roughly what proportion of the 1.5 million new homes the Government are planning for this parliamentary Session will be affordable to those on average incomes and below?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

That is a key question, and I am afraid it is not possible for me to give a specific answer because we have just set aside social housing in local plans. We will be asking local authorities to determine their local need for social housing.

[The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford]

My Lords, one consequence of sustained high rents in the private sector is the conversion of family homes into HMOs. Are the Government monitoring this trend, and what action are they taking on the loss of family homes in this way?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I understand the point the right reverend Prelate makes about the conversion of family homes into HMOs. I do not have those figures here, so I will write to her with a response.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, evidence from Scotland shows that only 4% of tenants with a rent rise use the First-tier Tribunal to challenge that rise. How will the Government ensure that more tenants are aware of and use this right? Does the Minister accept that, in a system where demand significantly outstrips supply, a tribunal decision that the rent is fair does not make it affordable?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I absolutely understand the point the noble Baroness makes, but tenants will be able to dispute rent increases they think are above market rate by referring their case to the First-tier Tribunal. The tribunal will assess what the landlord could expect to receive if re-letting the property on the open market, and it will determine the rent. Both landlords and tenants will have the opportunity to submit evidence, and the tribunal will not be able to determine a rent increase higher than the landlord had originally proposed—all through our Renters’ Rights Bill. So we are improving the position for tenants, and for landlords, who will be able to make their case at the tribunal.

Solar Panels

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bach]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take to ensure that all new-build commercial and industrial premises in England are fitted with solar panels.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Future Homes and Building Standards consultation, setting out proposals for new energy efficiency standards, was published at the end of 2023. It included proposals for fitting new, non-domestic premises with solar panels. The consultation received over 2,000 responses. We have carefully considered the feedback received and, while I do not want to pre-judge our detailed policy announcement, I can say that this Government recognise the vital role of rooftop solar in contributing to the clean energy mission and that we are therefore keen to see solar panels deployed on all buildings where it is appropriate and practical. We intend to publish the government response in the coming months.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for her reply; I know how passionately she feels about this issue. Is she aware that only a ridiculously small number of industrial and commercial premises are fitted with solar panels? There has been just too little urgency for many years to change that outrageous state of affairs. I live near what is called the largest logistics park in Europe and have been informed that there are no solar panels on any of the vast number of buildings that make up the park. Can the Government ensure that this national scandal is treated as a matter of urgency?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for his comments. Of course, it is vital that we get on now and get this moving as quickly as possible. The future buildings standards consultation outlined a number of proposals for new non-domestic buildings and we need to expand that to existing non-domestic buildings. We are ambitious and believe that the standards we set are technically achievable and affordable across all sites. We are working very closely with colleagues in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to confirm the technical detail of these standards. As soon as we can, we will make sure that we do what is necessary to get this out to as many non-domestic buildings as possible. Your Lordships have my personal commitment to that, as the noble Lord kindly said.

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register. Can the Government look also at all government buildings, because there are a lot of savings we can make? I am pleased to say that Leicester City Council has started to look at how it can issue tenders for solar on its properties in the city.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness and congratulate Leicester on the work it is doing in this space. It is important to say that current standards, introduced in December 2021, already encourage the use of solar panels in non-domestic buildings, and they are expected to produce around 27% lower carbon emissions compared with those built to the previous standards. To meet the 2021 standards, they are expected to be built with very high fabric standards and improved building services, including heat pumps and solar panels. When we make our announcement, we will encourage as many non-domestic building owners as possible to take that on board and to use every technique they can to improve the standards they work to, including on government buildings.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of Peers for the Planet. The Minister’s remarks about the consultation and its results were extremely encouraging and I am grateful to her for them. She spoke about the role of solar panels in the Government’s clean energy mission, but does she agree with me that, particularly for industrial buildings, the fitting of solar panels makes economic and financial sense and gives the people working in those businesses and buildings both energy sufficiency and lower bills?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Baroness that the fitting of more efficient energy methods contributes to both the energy security of our country and the efficiency of those buildings. It is very important that we focus on that as much as we can and we will do all we can to encourage that with non-domestic buildings. Some technical issues came up as part of the consultation responses—we had 2,000 responses, including some on the fitting of solar panels to roofs and other efficiency measures—and it is important that we look at them before we issue our statement.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, one of the big challenges in encouraging more solar panels on large industrial premises is the lack of ability to connect to the national grid. I am sure that the Government are aware of that challenge, but what are they going to do about it?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The noble Baroness raises a very important question for all the growth that we are predicting for our country. My colleagues in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are working very closely with the national grid to improve grid capacity; it will be essential to have that going forward. We need to make sure that that is the case, both to drive the growth that we want to see, because energy is vital to that, and to keep our energy security for the country the way we want it as we grow the economy.

[Lord Jamieson (Con)]

My Lords, there is currently a potential conflict between the Government’s desire to ensure all rental homes have a minimum EPC energy efficiency rating of C and planning restrictions for buildings that are either listed or in a conservation zone. This is forcing many housing associations to look at selling many affected but much-needed affordable homes. What will the Government do to address this issue?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We have had issues around energy efficiency improvements to heritage and listed buildings. It is important to get the balance here right, though. Of course, we want to drive energy efficiency and we will be working with all the conservation associations, including Historic England, to look at what more we can do to drive energy efficiency as effectively as possible while still preserving the very important heritage aspects of the buildings in this country.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, could the Government consider making it a legal requirement? Even the terrible Government of the past 14 years tried to encourage people. But that does not work. You need to make it a legal requirement. And it is popular. I do not understand why this Government do not go for a popular policy for a change.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We have a whole range of popular policies, which, I suggest, is why we are here and the other side are not. We are considering measures. We put extra measures into the national planning policy framework and we will continue to do what we can. I like to encourage people where possible. If that does not work, we may have to look again. It is very important that we do everything we can to sell the benefits of having solar panels and other energy-efficient methods of generating heat and other forms of energy and we will continue to do that.

[Lord Trees (CB)]

My Lords, it is frequently quoted that ground-mounted solar installations take over 0.1% of UK land, which will increase to 0.3% when our net zero ambitions are met. However, I have figures that suggest that 0.44% of UK land is already committed for ground- mounted installations, with the geographical distribution concentrated in the breadbasket of south and east England. This means that Nottinghamshire, for example, is likely to have 4% of its ground area covered with solar panels. The use of land, as well, is disproportionate; important grade 2 and grade 3 agricultural land is being used. Is this consistent with His Majesty’s Government’s commitment to food security?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government are being quite clear on this: while we support ground solar installations, premium grade agricultural land should not be used for that purpose. We are very clear on that point and we continue to strive for the right balance right between ground-based solar and roof solar.

[Lord Sharma (Con)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House when the Government intend to publish their much-anticipated solar road map and whether that road map will contain a detailed plan to support investment in domestic UK solar supply chains and manufacturing?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very important point. I am very interested in supply chains. Some fantastic, innovative technology is being developed in this country that I think will take us a long way ahead. There are significant issues about developing our manufacturing capability here, but we are working very closely with our colleagues in DBT and DSIT to do what we can to promote that. I cannot give the noble Lord an exact date for the solar road map, but I will come back to him in writing on that.

English Devolution and Local Government

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

I remind the House that I have relevant interests as a councillor and as a vice- president of the Local Government Association. This is a wide-ranging Statement about the future of local government. There are three different elements within the Statement, and I want to address each separately.

First, I want to think about the creation of the so-called strategic authorities. The Government, in the headline to their Statement, described it as “devolution”. It is not devolution; it is delegation of powers from the centre in Westminster. True devolution will occur only when funding is raised locally and decisions are made locally, without the iron grip of Whitehall being exerted. This is a bit of a challenge for the Minister: if they are to have devolution, can she describe the route to the place where there is freedom for local government to make and fund its decisions, without the diktat from above?

The next challenge I have for the Minister—I am sorry, there are one or two here—is that of the democratic deficit that is being deliberately created. We are, apparently, going to have mayors for these so-called strategic authorities. If the evidence from the past in the election of mayors is to continue, mayors are elected—when they are stand-alone elections—by less than 20% of the electorate, which is hardly a resounding vote of confidence in that system. Those of us who care about local democracy are rightly concerned about increasing powers. For example, the mayors of the strategic authorities will have the power to create policy on housing and on strategic planning, which really affect the lives of residents. How will those decisions be respected when the mayors have been elected by such a low number of electors?

One small step that the Government could take to help reverse this democratic deficit is to return to the voting system that prevailed in the election of mayors until the previous Government, in their last throes, decided to remove the additional vote system and return to first past the post. I guess they thought it would help their cause; it did not. At least having an additional vote—albeit that is not what would I want—means that more people help to support the person who is elected.

The next element of the Statement is the abolition of district councils. I serve on a metropolitan council, so district councils are not anything I have experienced, but we know that they are very efficient in running very local services and are very close to the residents they serve. Systems always need reform, so if there is going to be reform of this two-tier system, why do we not think of change rather than abolition? Is it because the county councils are running out of money, and they need the district council reserves to prop them up?

In the new era of unitary authorities, the Government are talking about the average size of these unitary authorities being a population of 500,000. That is very much like the metropolitan area that I serve in. I can tell the House that this means that the wards that councillors will be elected to serve in will be large, and in rural areas they will be geographically large. I suspect that the Government are considering a ratio of councillor to electors of about 1:5,000. That is a very large number of people, and it would take local democracy away from people.

The last item I want to raise is the cancelling of elections. I do not think that, in a democracy, we should ever cancel elections. I know that the previous Government cancelled elections, so there is a bit of a precedent, but I do not think that it is one that should be repeated. People have a right to have their say in electing people to represent them. The difficulty that cancelling these elections creates is that the existing councillors who were elected four years ago will be the ones who determine the set-up for the new unitary councils in their area. If you do that you need the electoral mandate to do it, which they will not have.

I am very disappointed that the Government have decided that democracy is not worthy of the name, and that we are moving local government further and further away from local people. I hope that the Minister will be able to answer my questions and put some life back in local democracy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

I thank both noble Baronesses for their questions. The number one mission of our Government is to unlock growth in our regions. It is to this end that we are working very hard to start this generational opportunity to devolve powers and funding from Whitehall and Westminster to our local areas, where local leaders have skin in the game in making things happen for their communities. It is a very important part of our mission. With the measures we announced last Wednesday, over 44 million people will see the benefits of devolution. That is close to 80% of the county—more progress in a short amount of time than any Government in Britain’s history.

It is very important that we get on with this. This issue has been hanging around for most of my local government career, which is longer that I care to admit to. I have been involved in at least four long-term proposals for devolution in my time, and it is time that we got on with the job.

We have heard from councils that unitarisation or council mergers can help strengthen local leadership, improve local services, save taxpayers money and improve local accountability. That is why we invited formal unitary proposals from all the councils in two-tier areas and their neighbouring small unitaries.

We acknowledge that, for some areas, the timing of election affects their planning for devolution, particularly alongside reorganisation. To help manage these demands, we have considered requests to postpone elections from May 2025 to May 2026. We have been very clear that we would consider these requests only where it would help the area to deliver reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. That is a very high bar, and rightly so. Of these requests, the Government agree that for Norfolk and Suffolk, Essex and Thurrock, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and East Sussex and West Sussex, postponement is essential for the delivery of the devolution priority programme and complementary reorganisation. The Government have also agreed to postpone elections in Surrey, where reorganisation is essential to locking devolution options. We had a much larger number of proposals than that but, as I say, it was a very high bar.

I will address the questions posed by the noble Baronesses. I completely disagree with the characterisation from the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, that local authorities are being bullied and blackmailed, and that this is a top-down reorganisation. That is completely wrong. We asked local authorities to put proposals forward, and the fact that we were oversubscribed, with the number of local authorities that did so, shows the enthusiasm for this. I met with a large number of local authorities over the course of the consultation, and they are all very enthusiastic and positive about this proposal. We have driven local authorities to the edge of this then marched them back down the hill so many times. It is time that we just got on with the job.

On the noble Baroness’s points about consultation, we are undertaking extensive consultation in all the areas that I outlined just now. The Government will be starting that next week. We have asked for the local authorities to help us contact their stakeholders—whether they are community stakeholders, business groups or other channels—so that consultation is as wide as possible. We will continue to use consultation as the basis for the plans we take forward.

On council tax, I remind the party opposite that the failure properly to fund local government over many years was the worst thing that happened to social care and children’s services in my time in local government. We need to take steps now to restructure local government to make it sustainable for the future, and to make sure that it works properly to deliver the services that we need now, not the services that were needed 30 years ago.

On how restructuring will put more money in people’s pockets, I note that people will get better services from their local councils. The addition of a strategic level will make sure that every region in this country will benefit from the growth that we hope to see going forward, and every region will contribute to it. I am afraid that the levelling-up mission of the previous Government did not reach out to many areas of our country, so it is now time we did that.

We are of course aware of the issues with council staff, and we will work very closely with the Local Government Association and council colleagues on that.

On the impact on housing delivery, I genuinely believe that having mayors in a strategic role in our local areas, driving forward both housing and growth—in a way that makes sense for their area, which is the important part of this procedure—will be critical to seeing the housing delivery and growth that we want to see.

On the significant levels of debt that the noble Baroness mentioned, it is the responsibility of councils to manage their debts, and it is standard for councils to borrow and hold debt. We will work with local leaders to explore how best to support local government reorganisation where there has been failure, and we will continue to work with best value commissioners to support councils’ financial recovery.

The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, raised a number of issues, some of which I have already answered. The devolution of powers from Westminster down to local areas is a critical, once-in-a-generation step that we want to see. I am afraid that I disagree with her point that that is not devolution; I genuinely believe that it is. It will then be for the councils to facilitate further devolution out to the people in their local areas.

The noble Baroness mentioned the democratic deficit. If you look at what mayors have been able to achieve in their areas in improving skills, transport and many other things, you will see that there is no democratic deficit. In fact, the people in the areas that already have elected mayors are really benefiting from that. We have decided at this stage not to return to an alternative voting system, and we will stick with first past the post for these elections.

On district councils, the two tiers make for a complex picture. I was in a two-tier area for all my local government career. Many people do not understand which council does which services. Now is the time to address that issue once and for all, to make sure that there is only one council delivering for the people it serves. It will be for the Local Government Boundary Commission to decide the size of the wards and their representation. As I explained, cancelling elections will give local authorities the space to manage the process in order to get their new structures in place in time for mayoral elections in 2026.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement. This Government are acting with decisiveness to sort out the mess of local government, in a way that previous Governments have neglected. I was a councillor for 20 years, and my Cumbria County Council 2021 re-election campaign was cancelled because of a Conservative Government decision about reorganisation, so I do not think this is a party-political point the Opposition can honestly make.

What Labour is trying to do here is to create a reasonably uniform system of local government in this country, with elected mayors playing a crucial role. Is this not a foundational step—I ask this in response to the noble Baroness, Lady, Pinnock, whom I greatly respect —towards greater devolution of powers and money from Whitehall to the newly created, much more efficient local authorities?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that genuine advocacy of local government; I share his faith in local government delivering for the people it serves. The White Paper sets out this ambitious new framework for English devolution, moving power out of Westminster to those who take decisions for and with their communities. We want to see all of England access devolved power by establishing the strategic authorities, and a number of councils working together over areas that people recognise—that is the important point, because this is coming from local areas—and that can make the key decisions to drive economic growth.

My noble friend is quite right that elections being postponed to drive forward such programmes is not unique to our Government. Following these decisions, of the 33 council elections originally scheduled for May 2025, 24 will take place, with nine being delayed to May 2026. Previous Governments have taken similar decisions that it was necessary to postpone elections to give councils the space to do the work necessary.

[Lord Fuller (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord referred to consistency between authorities. The average number of electors in a London borough is 173,000, and in a small unitary it is 237,000, but the Government plan to have new councils consisting of half a million people. That is inconsistent with democracy, and with what the noble Lord said.

Yesterday, I asked the noble Baroness what we are going to do about electoral equality, and she answered that the Boundary Commission will work to ensure consistency within authorities. But the thrust of my question is: what about consistency between them? I have the fourth-oldest outstanding Written Question on the Order Paper, on page 16, which asks about the capacity of the Boundary Commission to undertake this work. When does the noble Baroness intend to answer my Question—or would she like to accompany me to the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum in Dorset on a day trip, where she can understand how the fundamental principles of equality of representation across all electoral areas can be ensured?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his offer to visit the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. I have already been there. However, I did pick up his point about the need to enhance and promote visits to that museum; it is a very worthwhile visit.

I answered a number of questions yesterday about the electoral reviews in the areas concerned. It is very important that the Local Government Boundary Commission for England is allowed to do its job properly. The department has, of course, been talking to the commission throughout this process about the work it will need to do as a result of the changes we are making to local government. It is ready to help both with boundary reviews, where necessary, and with the boundaries for the new authorities and the boundaries within those authorities. I explained yesterday the criteria that the commission uses to do that. It has very strict criteria, and I am sure it will keep to those, as it has done during all the time it has been operating.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, the White Paper seems to have a dreadful confusion between local and regional running throughout it. Does the Minister share my concern about the low level of public trust in democratic politics throughout England? I live in a city where wards average 15,000 people each, and local councillors find it very difficult to keep in touch with all the communities in their ward. The problem in our cities is that we are in danger of having a structure that is so distant from the local communities that people lose trust in and contact with democratic politics. Participation falls, and mistrust in our political system grows.

My second question is on accountability. We are told that mayors are going to be held strongly accountable, but as I read the White Paper, they are going to be accountable mainly to the Secretary of State, not to local councillors as such. That seems to me another way in which this is a false devolution and a real delegation. Can the Minister address those two questions?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

First, I share the noble Lord’s concern about mistrust in politics, but local government is the most trusted part of the political system, far more trusted than national politicians. I make that point to him. Of course it is right that the sizes of ward boundaries or divisional boundaries are appropriate for councillors to fulfil their need, but it is also important that those sizes are appropriate for the area that they represent. I am sure that the Local Government Boundary Commission for England will be taking great account of whether areas are majorly urban or rural and all the issues that it normally takes into account.

On mayoral accountability, it is not the case that the mayors will just be accountable to the Government. The White Paper sets out very clearly that there will be local public accounts committees in place and that the constituent parts of the combined authorities—the unitary authorities that sit within them—will have all the usual accountability mechanisms for those local authorities. They will have scrutiny and overview committees, they will explore the decisions of the Executive and the mayor will have a similar process at their level. So accountability will sit at the heart of the system. We will also mend the very broken audit system that has been left as a legacy from the previous Government and which has not worked for a number of years. The Government intend to address that and that is set out in the White Paper as well.

[Lord Inglewood (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, we know, because it is spelled out in the second sentence of the Statement, that the number 1 mission of this Government is to unlock growth in our regions and put money in the pockets of working people. Does the Minister not agree that the first way to take that forward is to stop sucking money out of the regions and then, secondly, provide additional resources and launch initiatives to catalyse growth-creating activities on the ground? I declare that I too am a resident and council tax payer in Cumbria.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Well, it very much seems that Cumbria is our happy place this afternoon.

I worked very closely with the politicians in Cumbria to get to where we are and am very pleased to see what they are doing. The noble Lord is quite right about local people taking decisions. The Government set an overall framework around these things, but this is absolutely right. Economies are different in every area and their needs, in terms of skills and training and infrastructure to support those economies, are different across the country. Therefore, it is very important that those decisions about strategic growth are taken locally. I agree that it is time that we got those powers, and the funding to enable that, out to the areas where they can do the best job.

[Lord Beamish (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that the noble Baroness who speaks on behalf of the Conservative Party has a short memory? It was the last Conservative Government who held a gun to the heads of local councils, withholding funding unless they had a devolution deal. On finance, they not only cut the budgets in local government by 30% but fixed the system to move money from poor areas to rich areas—confirmed by Rishi Sunak in his leadership bid. Debt was encouraged by the Government at the time; getting into speculative development to plug the hole in local government finance. Does the Minister also agree that there are success stories in unitary councils, one being Durham County Council, which came into being in 2009? It abolished seven inefficiently led local district councils which, if they had still been in existence, would have gone by the by because of austerity.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. I very well remember that speech from the former Prime Minister. We have already taken some steps during this year’s spending round to switch the funding formula back to where the need is most in our country for local government. We have put additional money into key areas such as special educational needs and adult care services. We made a further announcement yesterday about more funding for affordable housing, particularly to improve the quality of temporary and emergency accommodation.

In the spending review in the spring, we will do more to shift the balance back so that the spending review for local government will follow the needs in local areas. As we do that from one side, we also have mayors and unitary councils and strategic approaches; as each part of the country begins to grow, everybody will benefit.

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords, I remind noble Lords of my registered interest in relation to Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire. Those are two counties that will have county elections this May, yet they have received letters from the ministry saying that they must present initial plans on 21 March, which I assume is the day before purdah for those elections. Does it make any sense at all for those initial plans to be sent before the elections and before any administration that has been elected can come into place and put forward initial plans? Will the Minister delay that request from 21 March to the latter part of May at the very earliest?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I can give the noble Lord a very straightforward answer to that. No, we will not delay it, because we have a number of partners in local government coming to us who want to take part in this process. The proposal put forward on 21 March is an outline proposal; where there are new Administrations elected in May, there will be several months until the final proposal is due, which is at the end of November, where they can continue engagement with the Government and other partners, including the districts, to develop those final proposals.

If a new administration is elected in May, it is of course within their gift to depart from the interim plans set out by a previous administration, but we will continue working with all partners until we get to the 28 November deadline, when we expect final proposals to come in.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, as police and crime commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland for five years, I very much enjoyed working with two unitary authorities in Leicester and Rutland, Leicestershire County Council and seven districts. It was hard work. I do not think we have yet heard enough—maybe it will take time to develop—about what the, hopefully, advanced role will be for parish councils and town councils once the districts disappear in areas in counties. It is a vital role. It may well be that the Government are thinking of increasing their powers to a limited extent—obviously that would require funding as well. If the districts are to disappear, there should be an advanced and improved role for town councils and parish councils.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a very good point. I have been working with the parish and town councils and their organising bodies: NALC and the society of town council treasurers. We started on a process of working out their role in this new model. I think it is a very interesting opportunity for them. I know my honourable friend in the other place is very keen on developing the role of community councils, so they definitely have a role to play in this new system.

The other exciting opportunity is for community councillors in this new picture, because they will have exciting opportunities in their local area to drive forward local issues. They will be working with one council, instead of having the split responsibilities that I have experienced during my council life in a two-tier area. So there are great opportunities for both town and parish councils and community councillors.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, I declare my position as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, referred to the iron grip of Whitehall. What we have here is a plan for not devolution but concentration of power, and the Statement says as much:

“the Government will have the tools to ensure delivery. We will create strong accountability measures … to ensure that mayors deliver the housing, transport and infrastructure that their residents need”.

This is explicitly a Statement making mayors the agents of the priorities of central government. If a Green Party mayor was elected with the priorities of improving the health and well-being of the population, focusing on a healthy local food supply, looking after green spaces and biodiversity, tackling poverty and inequality, particularly affecting children and pensioners, and improving local economies built around small independent businesses rather than exploitive multinational companies, would the Government then impose their priorities against those of the local people?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am sorry, but I think the noble Baroness has misunderstood the wording that she just read out. The point is that the Government will set the growth agenda and say that we want every area of the country to grow, and it will be for mayors to determine how that works in their local area. She is shaking her head, but that is the idea behind the policy. The whole drive of it is that each local area will be driven by people who know it and its economy, people and communities well, and they will take forward the right proposals for growth for their area. If, for example, we look at what has happened in Manchester in terms of its transport schemes and at some of the other mayoral authorities which have developed skills programmes that are relevant to the needs of the local area, I think it is clear that those people acting at local level will best drive forward the growth of this country.

[Lord Berkeley (Lab)]

In Cornwall, we joined Durham about 15 years ago and became unitary. It was very popular because Cornwall is long and thin, and it needs a lot of different organisations and centres of districts to make it work. It has worked because there are local people in local offices as well as in the county council, but the most important thing is that, even for that to work, the Tory Administration last year decided that the leader of the council should become a mayor. We could not really work out why it was a good thing for her to become a mayor, apart from the fact that she would earn a great deal more money, but, of course, that was not very popular with the people of Cornwall. It is important that the criteria for electing mayors and the members of these new organisations are clear and concise. We can make it work, but we just have to have a few tweaks.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for being the champion of Cornwall and the south-west, which we are used to him doing. Cornwall does indeed have a unitary authority. It has not come forward in this round for any changes, but I know that, right across the south-west, active discussions are going on about what should happen there, and I look forward to working with them to deliver it.

I know the devolution journey is not always comfortable for politicians in Whitehall; it is not supposed to be. We are undergoing a generational power shift from Whitehall to our town halls. We have seen a huge amount of good will from Secretaries of State willing to give up newly won powers for the sake of our towns and cities. We are taking a step closer to taking back control and rebuilding our country from the ground up. I look forward to working on it.

Local Government: Electoral Quotas

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Fuller]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, as part of the local government reorganisation set out in the English Devolution White Paper published in December 2024 (CP 1218), whether they plan to ensure that the principle of a broadly equivalent electoral quota per constituent will be applied to local government so that the value of every vote in each local authority area will be broadly similar throughout England.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, for asking an important Question on fair electoral arrangements for local government following the proposed local government reorganisation. Of course, this is a matter for the independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England to consider, but my department is liaising closely with it to ensure that it is involved at the appropriate time to make sure that we have fair electoral arrangements across the area of any new unitary authorities.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Fuller (Con)]

My Lords, 10 days ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum in Dorset, where I was delighted to see that one of the six core Chartist beliefs was equality of representation across every electoral district. On average, it takes 3,109 electors to select a councillor in London, but the corresponding figure is 15,000 in Essex and 18,000 in parts of Kent. That is a 600% variation. With local government reorganisation on the cards, does the Minister agree that that founding socialist principle of electoral equality should be enshrined in the design principles of the new councils; that is, that the electoral quotient should be broadly similar throughout England, as it is in the other place, where a 5% tolerance is set down by law?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am delighted to hear that the noble Lord is educating himself on the socialist principle of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. I hope that that will continue; I am happy to help if he needs any support with it.

Basically, I believe that the noble Lord is comparing apples with pears here. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England provides very good guidance on determining councillor numbers. When it is decided where the new unitaries will be, it will look at the overall size of councils and then at warding and divisional boundaries within those councils—I am sure that the noble Lord has been through this process himself. It does that with fairness and equity; it bases its views on electoral equality, reflecting local communities and interests and responding to local views—as it has done for many decades and will, I am sure, continue to do.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I apologise for being too keen.

Does my noble friend the Minister recognise that, if one simply thinks about numbers, it can end up being a perverse electoral solution that undermines local people’s faith in who represents them? When community cohesion is totally ignored for numbers, many people begin to think, “Well, I don’t know who represents me and what they’re doing”. Will the Minister try to make sure that any guidance for the future takes account of communities as well as of stark numbers?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely correct. There has to be a focus on numbers to ensure that they are roughly equitable, but there are also other important considerations. Reflecting local communities and their interests is part of the boundary commission’s work, as is responding to local views. Whenever we have reviews of electoral boundaries, those local views should be properly taken into account. I will of course try to ensure that this continues.

[Lord Rennard (LD)]

My Lords, is it not a bigger problem that many local councils are unrepresentative of their electorates? They can even become one-party states, because of the first past the post system entrenching the same party in power for decades. Is it not time that England followed Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in holding council elections with proportional representation so that council composition properly reflects the votes cast?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have heard this view from the Liberal Democrats for many years in local government. The first past the post system means that the electorate decide who is in charge of our local councils. That is up to them. It is a straightforward system which is widely appreciated by the people who engage with it. That is not to say that we cannot do more to encourage involvement in local elections. We will continue to do so.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, if His Majesty’s Government do not have any plans to restructure London councils or any other metropolitan areas such as Manchester or Birmingham, can the Minister explain why the Government believe that those living in more rural parts of our country deserve less representation than those living in our cities?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We believe that everybody should have proper representation. While we are undergoing the devolution programme in the rest of England, we will not be looking at those metropolitan areas, but that is not to say that it will never happen.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, to build on that question, there is a lot of concern in rural areas that where they are to be added to a large unitary authority which is dominated by an urban area, they might miss out. What will be put into the criteria to ensure that there is fairness of services in those rural areas?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

It is very important that people do not lose their sense of place as this devolution programme goes forward, and they will not. The places will still exist. I have been talking to the associations that reflect the views of local councils—town and parish councils. We will support them in local areas, so they will definitely have a voice in this new system. The electorate will of course be able to decide at election times whether they are being properly represented.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

Does my noble friend recall the point about not having national equality for local government? Whereas the average ward in London had 6,000 electors, the average ward in Leeds had 15,000 electors and the average ward in Birmingham had 20,000 electors. You cannot run a national system when you have such a variety of issues. Surely it must suit the locality.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The boundary commission is focused on making sure that the structure of the electoral wards and divisions meets the needs of the council concerned; that is, in respect of the types of decisions being taken, the need for strategic leadership in those areas to enable the appropriate scrutiny of decisions and making sure that councillors can meet their community responsibilities. It has been doing this for decades, and I am sure it will continue to do so.

[The Earl of Devon (CB)]

My Lords, to add another voice of rural concern, is there not a danger that coupling local government re-organisation with such wholesale reform of planning, while promising 1.5 million new homes, threatens complete local government meltdown and undue stress on local authority planning departments?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have met a huge number of local government representatives and MPs in the last couple of months. They are all determined to ensure that this process goes through smoothly without impacting on “business as usual” for local government. They are all very committed to doing that and have been very positive in their response to it. They see the benefits of the new arrangements in making local government more efficient and effective for the people whom they serve—which is what everyone in local government is looking for.

[Lord Porter of Spalding (Con)]

My Lords, I bring the House’s attention to my interests in the register: primarily, that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. Before I ask my question—I am probably not supposed to say this—the response that my noble friend on the ministerial side gave to my noble friend on the opposition side seems to be at odds with the answer that my noble friend on the government side gave me few weeks ago when we discussed small unitaries, because the White Paper does refer to them. It appeared that London and other small unitaries, which is most of the councils in the country, were in scope for this conversation, but it now appears that they are out of scope. I am quite happy for her to write to me to clear that up.

One thing that restricts the ability to make new councils that look sensible is the rule that says we cannot break through existing district boundaries to create a new council—that seems at odds with creating sensible boundaries—as does not being able to have two police and crime commissioners. Can my noble friend the Minister on the other side—because she is—please give me an answer as to whether those two things will be in scope?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

On the noble Lord’s first question, we have a priority programme and have already set out who is in scope for that, and we have a local government reorganisation going on. Any other considerations will come later in the programme.

It is possible to consider boundary changes as part of this process; we are discussing that with the local authorities. They will come forward on 21 March to set out their proposals. If they involve boundary changes, we will engage the Local Government Boundary Commission to take care of those.

Permitted Development Rights (Extension) Bill [HL]

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 7th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for bringing this very important issue before the House again, and for his work on his Bill. I give my personal welcome to the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey; it is great to be working with her.

We absolutely support the right of householders to adapt their homes to meet their needs, and we understand the wish to continue to speed up the process. The points on the density of our urban areas made by the noble Lord, Lords Lucas and Lord Jamieson, are well made. Noble Lords will be aware of both the Government’s intention to promote brownfield sites, through the use of brownfield passports, and our support for SME builders; it is my intention that we will do as much as we can in that regard. But we believe that there are other routes to achieve the aims set out in the Bill, so the Government have some reservations, which I will endeavour to set out.

Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission granted by the Secretary of State. They play an important role in the planning system by taking certain development out of the standard planning application process and freeing up local planning authority resources. This is an important step in the freeing up and speeding up of the planning process for those major applications that we all want to see.

In England, under the existing householder permitted development rights, as set out in the general permitted development order, home owners are able to extend, alter and make certain improvements to their homes. Those rights strike a balance between protecting local amenity and allowing individuals the freedom to carry out development. They ensure that there is flexibility for householders and growing families so that they can alter and extend their homes.

The rights are therefore subject to certain conditions and limitations to minimise their impacts and are designed to safeguard against the kind of inappropriate development mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas. In addition, for larger rear extensions there is a neighbourhood notification scheme, referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, which means that consideration can be given by the local authority as to whether or not the impact on amenity of any adjoining premises is acceptable before giving approval to proceed. In a similar way, proposals to add additional storeys to homes under the rights are subject to prior approval.

These long-standing rights are well established, with home owners, developers and local authorities clear about what types of development are covered by the rights. We want to ensure that the permitted development rights are flexible enough to accommodate different living styles and maximise the number of households that can make use of those rights. When changes are made to permitted development rights, they are done so through amendments to the relevant secondary legislation, in this case the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, as amended. This means that primary legislation is not required for changes to householder permitted development rights.

Prior to any secondary legislative amendments there is normally a period of public consultation on the proposals. That ensures that the views of people who will be most affected by any of the changes can be taken into account and that suitable mitigations can be put in place.

The Bill appears to seek to replicate some of the existing householder permitted development rights as set out in the general permitted development order in England. It would introduce a free-standing and separate regime for householder permitted development rights without reference to, or connection with, current permitted development rights in the general permitted development order. Whether or not the new rights proposed are meant to sit alongside or replace existing permitted development rights is unclear. However, the Bill’s proposed permitted development rights, as provided by primary legislation, would prevail over the current rights, under secondary legislation, resulting in inconsistency. That would create uncertainty and confusion for users of the system, directly impacting both home owners and local authorities.

The Bill appears to seek to introduce new national permitted development rights in primary legislation that could otherwise be delivered in secondary legislation. We feel that would be a disproportionate use of primary powers. It would mean that there would not be a period of public consultation on the measures, which is a valuable step in the design of new permitted development rights, risking adverse impacts on amenity of neighbours without the in-depth assessment that consultation provides.

I will respond to the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, on the issue of roof heights. The National Planning Policy Framework has recently been updated to make it clear that planning policies and decisions should support opportunities to use the air space above existing residential and commercial premises for new homes. In particular, they should allow upward extensions, including mansard roofs—I know that that is a lovely topic of conversation in your Lordships’ House—where the development would be consistent with the prevailing form of neighbouring properties and the overall street scene, as long as they are well designed, including complying with local design policies and standards, and can maintain safe access and egress for occupiers. I hope that that is helpful.

In February 2024, the previous Government issued a consultation on changes to certain permitted development rights, including householder rights. The consultation sought views on allowing householders to erect larger extensions and loft extensions, and on providing flexibilities to permit bin and bike stores in front gardens.

Issues around building in flood-sensitive areas, on net zero, those raised by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, and those related to listed buildings and flood-sensitive areas, as referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, will be considered as we go forward. Following the analysis of consultation, we will consider whether to bring forward any amendments to the rights.

In relation EPC listings, which the noble Baroness raised, we have issued a consultation on this matter and are taking views on it but it is vital, in particular to those in private rented accommodation, that we are able to tackle fuel poverty and make sure that they have an assurance of fuel efficiency. On rural development, we have coming forward in the spring a housing strategy and a new planning and infrastructure Bill, both of which are likely to contain issues around development in rural areas.

Any future changes to the permitted development regime would be introduced through amendments to the general permitted development order made by secondary legislation. We will, therefore, continue to keep permitted development rights under review. Although I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for highlighting this important issue, I hope that I have explained the Government’s reservations about this way of approaching householder permitted development rights.

I realise that I have not commented on the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Jamieson, about housebuilding in London. I have responded to him in writing. The Government have set fairly challenging targets for London housing in the new housing targets that we have set. I once again thank the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for raising this very important issue and for his contribution to the discussion on permitted development rights.

Renters’ Rights Bill

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Bill be now read a second time.

Scottish and Welsh Legislative Consent sought.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, I extend my thanks to the many noble Lords with whom I have spoken about this Bill, and to Members of this House and people outside it who have worked so hard to improve the private rented sector over many years. I am looking forward to the maiden speeches of my noble friends Lady Brown and Lord Wilson.

The private rental system needs to change. It currently provides the least affordable, poorest quality and most insecure housing of all tenures. The insecurity it engenders creates uncertainty in the lives of tenants and allows good landlords to be undercut by the minority of rogues and chancers. In short, the 11 million private renters and the 2.3 million landlords across England are being failed.

The Renters’ Rights Bill brings forward the most significant changes to the sector for nearly 40 years. The Bill will strengthen the security of tenure for tenants; ensure that they are paying a fair rent; guarantee a minimum standard that they can expect from a property; provide new robust avenues to redress; and more. The Government have worked closely with those across the sector to ensure that the Bill’s measures strike the right balance. I will set out some of these key measures.

As many noble Lords will be aware, the Bill will deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to abolish Section 21 no-fault evictions as soon as possible, removing the threat of arbitrary eviction and granting renters the security and stability they deserve. Section 21 evictions can wreak havoc with tenants’ employment, schooling and lives in general. As leader of Stevenage Council, I saw at first hand the knock-on effects that arbitrary evictions can have on families’ physical and mental health, with more people pushed into inadequate temporary accommodation. The case that always sticks with me is that of the parents of a child with special educational needs, who fought and fought to get their child into a school near where they lived but were then evicted from the very property that was near to that school.

It is unacceptable that over 123,000 households in England are currently living in temporary accommodation. This includes 159,380 children—the highest number of children in temporary accommodation on record. Removing this threat will immediately improve the lives of millions.

The Government also recognise that the vast majority of landlords provide an excellent service, and it is vital to ensure landlords can reclaim their properties when they need to. To this end, new, clear and expanded possession grounds will be introduced. We will ensure these are as watertight as possible, so that they cannot be abused by landlords seeking possession for the wrong reasons. These robust grounds will ensure that there is no room for loopholes in the system, and tenants will benefit from longer notice and protected periods.

The new tenancy system will operate on the basis of periodic tenancies. This will support tenants who want to leave poor-quality homes or face circumstances such as domestic abuse. Tenants will be able to give two months’ notice at any point.

I know several noble Lords have raised concerns about the removal of fixed-term tenancies. To be clear, it is a core principle of this Bill, and this Government’s firm belief, that there is no place for fixed terms in the future assured tenancy system. Both landlords and tenants will benefit from a simpler system, with a single set of rights and responsibilities. Neither group should be locked into a fixed term if their circumstances change.

In designing the grounds, the Government took time to ensure the Bill works for everyone, including students. To meet this goal, a new possession ground has been created to allow landlords renting to students in HMOs to seek possession ahead of each new academic year, facilitating the yearly cycle of short-term student tenancies. To further protect the student market, private purpose-built student accommodation will be removed from the assured tenancy system in recognition of the limited market such accommodation focuses on, and the differences between purpose-built accommodation and “off-street” private housing rented to students. Providers must sign up to government-approved codes of practice, which will ensure homes are safe and good quality, to be removed from the assured tenancy system.

The Bill also makes changes to the system by which rent can be increased, preventing unscrupulous landlords from using unfair rent increases to evict tenants by the back door. Landlords will now be able to increase rents only once per year and they must do so through the Section 13 process. Tenants will be empowered to challenge egregious increases at the First-tier Tribunal, without fear of receiving a higher rent than the landlord initially intended.

To further support tenants trying to do the right thing, a mandatory repeated rent arrears ground will not be included in the Bill. We will also increase the mandatory threshold for eviction under the mandatory rent arrears ground from two to three months.

The Bill proposes new laws to end the cruel practice of rental bidding wars by landlords and letting agents. For too many tenants, rental bidding restricts their ability to make an informed choice about one of the most financially significant decisions they face. They are led to think they have found a property they can afford to rent, only to discover they would need to pay way over the asking price to secure it. Our reforms will end this practice for good. Landlords and letting agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property and will then be prohibited from asking for, encouraging or accepting a higher offer.

Following amendment on Report in the Commons, the Bill will also limit the amount of rent in advance that a landlord can require after the tenancy has been signed but before the tenant has taken possession to a maximum of one month. That aside, landlords will no longer be able to include any terms in the tenancy agreement that have the effect of requiring rent to be paid prior to the rent due date. Tenants will retain the flexibility to make payments of rent in advance during the tenancy should they wish to do so. Taken together, these measures will prevent the small number of unscrupulous landlords setting tenants against each other or excluding altogether renters who are perfectly able to afford the monthly rent on a property.

Everyone in the private rented sector is entitled to a safe and decent home. This Bill will make it illegal for landlords and letting agents in England, Scotland and Wales to discriminate against tenants in receipt of benefits or because they have children. Local councils will have strong enforcement powers to tackle unlawful practices related to rental discrimination. Mortgage lenders and insurers will also no longer be able to impose restrictive discriminatory terms.

Pets can bring a huge amount of joy to people’s lives, and this cannot be restricted to those lucky enough to own their own home. We are committed to supporting responsible pet ownership in the private rented sector. The Bill will ensure that landlords do not unreasonably withhold consent when a tenant requests to have a pet in their home, with the tenant able to challenge unfair decisions. We know that some landlords are concerned about potential damage caused by pets. That is why the Bill will allow landlords to require insurance covering pet damage. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and the noble Lords, Lord Trees and Lord de Clifford, for their fantastic expertise, which they have shared with us to ensure that these reforms will work as intended. We continue to work with them.

The decent homes standard, which applies only to the social rented sector, will apply to the private rented sector and be enforceable for the first time. This will ensure that privately rented homes are safe, secure and hazard free, tackling the blight of poor-quality homes. The Bill will also extend the application of Awaab’s law to the private rented sector, enabling the setting of clear legal expectations about the timeframes within which landlords must make homes safe when they contain serious hazards. We will launch a consultation on the content of the decent homes standard for social and privately rented homes in the coming months. We will also set out further information about the timescales for implementation in due course.

The Bill provides for the introduction of a new PRS landlord ombudsman service that will deliver quick, fair, impartial and binding resolutions for tenants whose landlords fail to resolve legitimate complaints. The ombudsman will support a number of the new measures the Bill introduces—for example, giving tenants further opportunity to escalate issues where a landlord has encouraged a bidding war or unreasonably refused a pet.

The Housing Ombudsman Service has extensive experience in tenant-landlord services and redress and is well placed to deliver streamlined redress for both private and social tenants. We said in opposition that we agreed with this approach, and we are still of that view. However, this is not a final decision. We will continue working to design the best possible service for users and, following a full value-for-money assessment, we will determine who is best placed to deliver a high- quality service.

This Bill also introduces a private rented sector database, through which tenants will be able to access information to inform choices when entering new tenancies. Landlords will be able to understand their obligations and demonstrate compliance, and local authorities will be able to use the database to target enforcement activity. We will continue to consider what information is necessary to collect to support more informed rental experiences for tenants, and to provide local authorities with a dataset which will support the enforcement of health and safety standards in the private rented sector.

The changes I have just mentioned have the potential to transform the experience of renting in England, but their success is contingent on effective enforcement. The Bill will strengthen local councils’ enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity. The Bill includes a staged enforcement framework for local authority enforcement. New maximum penalties of £7,000 and £40,000 will be introduced for initial or minor compliance and for serious, repeat or persistent non-compliance respectively.

The Bill will also significantly strengthen rent repayment orders. This will provide a stronger deterrent against non-compliance and further empower tenants to take action against landlords when they commit offences. More offences will be brought into the scope of rent repayment orders. Further changes include making sure superior landlords and company directors can be held liable, and doubling the maximum amount a landlord can be ordered to pay from one to two years’ rent. We are also doubling the period in which tenants and local authorities can apply for a rent repayment order and requiring repeat offenders to pay the maximum amount.

New investigatory powers will make it easier for councils to identify and fine unscrupulous landlords. Local authorities will be able to request information from third parties and enter business premises and—in much more limited circumstances—residential premises to gather evidence where required. The new powers contain safeguards to ensure that they are used appropriately and proportionately.

It is imperative that the reforms in the Bill can be handled by the courts and tribunals system; many noble Lords have expressed concerns about this and have raised them with me. I want to reassure noble Lords that we are working closely with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the justice system is prepared for the implementation of this Bill. Most tenancies end without court proceedings being required, and the digitisation of the court possession process will make the process easier to navigate for landlords and tenants in those cases where they are. I will be meeting very soon with a number of noble Lords who have expressed interest in this digitisation process, and I look forward to that further engagement.

I know we all share a wish to see fairness and proportionality in any regulatory framework. We believe we have achieved that in our reforms, and I very much look forward to your Lordships’ scrutiny of the Bill. The Bill ensures that tenants can put down roots in their communities. They deserve to enjoy that stability, just as home owners do, and we should reward landlords who provide the excellent service that so many of them do. This will be the biggest change to the experience of renting in this country for generations. I believe the measures in the Renters’ Rights Bill are sufficiently comprehensive, robust and balanced to achieve that change, and give all tenants a better place to call home. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their excellent contributions. It has been a very interesting and thoughtful debate, and it has been a pleasure to listen to the contributions with the expertise that we have around the House. At times, I felt a bit like Doctor Dolittle, as the debates ranged from fleas, to parrots, to packs of Alsatians— I will come on to pets in a moment.

First, I congratulate my noble friends Lord Wilson of Sedgefield and Lady Brown of Silvertown on their outstanding maiden speeches. The noble Lord, Lord Wilson, made very moving references to the history of our industrial heritage and his own family’s part in that. I congratulate him on his new grandchild and wish his mum a happy 100th birthday.

I was very pleased to hear about the East End heritage of the noble Baroness, Lady Brown. That is where my own family came from, with my dad’s family growing up in Bethnal Green and then Walthamstow, in Highams Park where I spent a great deal of my childhood with my granny. I welcome both noble Lords to the House; we all very much look forward to working with them. All three of us are examples of the social mobility which should be everyone’s opportunity, not just in our country but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, pointed out, across the world. Safe, secure, affordable housing is part of that social mobility, so it is very appropriate for today’s debate.

I will endeavour to respond to all the points raised by noble Lords. There was a great deal raised in the debate, so, if I miss anything, I will of course write to noble Lords afterwards. We can also have many further discussions in Committee on these points.

Before I get on to those specific points, as others have said, it is a bit disappointing, bearing in mind that this builds on the Bill brought by the previous Government, that the Conservatives voted against this Bill in the Commons. To the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Howard, about my Government’s competency on housing, I hope he was listening to what many other Peers said about the housing crisis, because it is his party that has presided over that, not mine.

I will go into some more detail on the Bill and the points that noble Lords have made. There were some very important issues raised, to which we will give much further consideration in Committee. Abolishing Section 21 was mentioned by many noble Lords, but by the noble Baronesses, Lady Scott and Lady Thornhill, and the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, in particular. It is one of the Government’s most pressing objectives to remove Section 21 from the statute book as soon as possible. The new tenancy system for the private rented sector will be introduced in one stage. At this point, it will apply to all private rented tenancies and existing tenancies will convert to the new system, including those that currently have a fixed term. New tenancies signed after the date will also be governed by the new rules: thereafter, no private landlord will be able to serve a new Section 21 notice. This single date will prevent a confusing two-tier system and give all tenants security in their homes immediately.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, said, I am very grateful for all the briefings we have received on this and to all those organisations that have campaigned so hard and for so long on behalf of both landlords and tenants. I reassure noble Lords that we will work closely with all parts of the sector, including the courts, to ensure a smooth transition to the new system, and we will provide sufficient notice ahead of implementation.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Eaton and Lady Thornhill, and the noble Lords, Lord Howard, Lord Cromwell and Lord Marlesford, made points about the abolition of fixed terms. I understand the concerns about that but, as I made clear in my opening speech, this is a core principle of the Bill and a change this Government believe is fundamental to providing security of tenure. It was also the policy of the last Government and stands as a core foundation of our tenancy regime. We just do not accept that fixed terms offer the best structure for renters. They oblige them to pay rent regardless of the standard of the property or whether it is best for their circumstances, and they restrict renters’ freedom to move if they need to.

These changes do not pose any threat to good landlords who operate fairly and comply with the rules. Tenants do not move house unless they absolutely have to, because of the cost and upheaval. If they leave, they will be required to provide two months’ notice, giving landlords time to find new tenants. We are not prepared to lock tenants in for longer, which would prevent them leaving properties with dangerous hazards or even in situations of domestic abuse.

Several noble Lords—I will go through the list, as there was quite a lot of them—mentioned the potential impact of these reforms on supply in the private rented sector. They include the noble Lord, Lord Best, who was a bit more positive about this, as well as the noble Baronesses, Lady Scott and Lady Thornhill, the noble Lords, Lord Willetts, Lord Shipley, Lord Thurlow, Lord Carter, Lord Howard, Lord Cromwell, Lord Northbrook and Lord Jamieson, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Etherton, and the noble Earl, Lord Lytton. I understand the concerns about supply; we have considered it very carefully. While we understand that the new system may spark a period of adaptation, we do not believe that the reforms will lead to the sort of landlord exodus that some have mooted. The sector has doubled in size since the early 2000s, and there is no evidence of an exodus since the reform has been put on the table. In addition, the recent 2023-24 English Housing Survey indicated that the size of the PRS has remained broadly stable since 2013-14.

Our proposals will make sure that landlords have the confidence and support they need to continue to invest and operate in the sector. The noble Lord, Lord Best, made some good points about the potential for PRS properties to return to social housing; I would like to think that that might be the case, but we will wait to see whether that happens. Some local authorities are already starting to buy up private property that comes on the market.

Noble Lords raised the issue of the affordability of properties, including my noble friend Lady Lister—who made a very powerful intervention, and I am grateful to her for that—the noble Lords, Lord Truscott and Lord Desai, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Thornhill and Lady Janke. We recognise the affordability pressures faced by those living in the private rented sector. The Renters’ Rights Bill works to strengthen tenants’ rights as a whole. Stronger powers to challenge excessive rent hikes complement the increase in security through the abolition of Section 21 evictions. Tenants will no longer be too frightened of eviction to challenge bad behaviour. The Bill takes practical steps to help renters, by ending unfair bidding wars, preventing landlords demanding large amounts of rent in advance, and tackling rental discrimination. We hope that that will help.

My noble friend Lady Lister raised the issue of local housing allowances. To deliver our commitment to build more affordable homes, we have had to take some difficult decisions to address the challenging fiscal context. The Government currently spend around £30 billion annually on housing support, and the April 2024 one-year local housing allowance increase will cost an additional £1.2 billion in 2024-25 and approximately £7 billion over five years. However, we will keep this under review and continue to look at it.

The noble Baroness, Lady Scott, and the noble Lords, Lord Truscott, Lord Marlesford, Lord Northbrook and Lord Jamieson, the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and others raised concerns about the strain on the court system. It is a serious concern, and we take it seriously. We do not believe that it is appropriate to tie in the implementation date of these urgently needed reforms to what could be a subjective assessment of court readiness. I reassure your Lordships that we are working very closely with the Ministry of Justice to assess the impacts of our legislation on the courts and tribunals, and to ensure that the justice system is prepared for the implementation of the Bill more generally. Our discussions with the MoJ cover a range of options for managing the impact of these and our other housing reforms, including mitigations to help avoid disputes arising in the first place, thereby keeping away some of this from the courts, and to manage the risks that are associated.

After my many years in local government, I was not at all surprised that noble Lords raised the issue of local government resourcing. The noble Baronesses, Lady Eaton and Lady Thornhill, and the noble Lords, Lord Tope and Lord Davies, rightly pointed out that strengthening the enforcement framework will count for little if local authorities do not have the resources to act. Some local authorities already enforce effectively, but we acknowledge the resourcing challenges that many authorities face.

It should be noted that local authorities will not need to enforce the full set of reforms until later down the line, as measures in the Bill do not all happen at the same time. In the first instance, we want to pursue a “polluter pays” approach, which will see bad landlords meet the costs of the enforcement against them. We are supporting that by extending and increasing civil penalties, which will be ring-fenced for that enforcement. However, I accept that more must be done. In accordance with the new burdens doctrine—I think that the noble Lord, Lord Tope, asked about that—we will ensure that additional asks on local authorities as a result of our reforms are fully funded. We will look hard at how best we can further boost capacity and capability, to create that sustainable funding system over the longer term.

A number of noble Lords raised issues around extending the provisions in the Bill. The noble Baronesses, Lady Grender and Lady Thornhill, particularly referred to MoD accommodation, although I think other noble Lords raised this as well. The Government strongly agree that we should allow dedicated military personnel and their families safe and decent homes. However, bringing that accommodation within the scope of the Bill is not the right way to achieve that. The decent homes standard is already used by the MoD as a benchmark for service family accommodation. It has a policy that no homes fall below the decent homes standard and, if they do fall below this level during occupation, works are undertaken to restore them to the minimum standard.

The MoD has developed its own higher defence decent homes plus standard, its target standard for all service family accommodation, and MoD Ministers are committed to reviewing that target standard as part of the new military housing strategy for service accommodation, with the aim of improving the standard of service family accommodation across the estate. This is in line with the recommendations of the Kerslake review, which was mentioned by noble Lords, and the House of Commons Defence Committee’s recommendations in its report into service accommodation, which was published at the end of last year. The MoD will provide further information on this review early in this year.

On the extension to Home Office accommodation mentioned by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lincoln, the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and the noble Lords, Lord Tope and Lord Davies, the contracts the Home Office has with providers of asylum accommodation should already require it to meet the decent homes standard. I have heard the messages from noble Lords and I will have further negotiations and discussions with colleagues in the Home Office about that. I have also seen the briefing by London Councils and, again, I will discuss that with Home Office colleagues. On temporary and emergency accommodation, we need to think about that and I will come back to that in Committee, if that is okay.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, for his persistence in raising the issues of houseboat owners and residents. We recognise that the occupants of residential boats have the benefit of protection under the Protection from Eviction Act and wider consumer protection legislation, but they do not enjoy the same level of tenure security as those in the private rented sector. This Bill is focused on reforming the assured tenancy regime. Houseboat owners fall outside the scope of the assured tenancy regime, but we will consider what further action might be necessary to provide house- boat owners with greater security in their homes.

I move on to pets for a moment and some very interesting contributions on this subject from the noble Lords, Lord Trees, Lord Carter and Lord Black, the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, and other noble Lords. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, that I am very happy to have a meeting with her. The guidance may come from the outcomes of the appeals and our consideration as we go through Committee, but I thank her for her contribution. Very little can be done to evoke the same sense of joy, as the noble Lord, Lord Black, outlined, as a beloved family pet. We do not believe that experience should be denied to those who are not able to own their own home and, for this reason, we are introducing the right. There are reasonable limitations to that, but these measures will end the choice between having a pet or a rented home and ensure that everyone in England can benefit from the great companionship that having a pet brings.

I hope we can continue to work with the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, on the insurance issues. They were also raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, and by the noble Lords, Lord de Clifford and Lord Trees. Landlords will be able to charge reasonable costs of insurance. We listen to the concerns that insurance products will not be available to cover the risks of pets, but there is currently a reduced demand for landlord pet insurance as many landlords simply refuse to allow pets. So we hope the market will respond to the increased demand for these products. To the noble Lord, Lord Trees, I say that I will take up his point about assistance dogs—that is an issue,

I think we have covered pets. On the issues around students, which many noble Lords have raised, we have introduced a new ground specific to the so-called typical students: those living in shared houses who sign up each year. This will preserve the annual cycle of student housing. I understand the issues raised by noble Lords and no doubt we will come back to this in Committee, but we must be very careful not to leave a loophole here. We do not intend this to capture every student—far from it. For example, I do not think that it is right for a parent who lives alone with their children to be evicted just because they are studying at university. Those tenants should have the same security as everyone else. To the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, my noble friend Lady Warwick and the noble Lords, Lord Willetts and Lord Shipley, we can discuss this further, but we need to proceed with caution here.

A number of noble Lords spoke about ground 4A being too narrow. The Government recognise the impact that the new tenancy system will have. While we believe the ground covers of the majority of the market, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. We think it is reasonable that the ground will apply to full-time students in larger house-share situations. Students studying part-time alongside work or who live in smaller properties should enjoy the same security as other tenants.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Eaton and Lady Janke, and the noble Lords, Lord Northbrook and Lord Marlesford, raised rent increases. The Government are clear that this will stop a minority of rogue landlords who try to use rent increases as a means of back-door eviction. Measures in the Bill will ensure that this does not happen. All rent increases will take place via the Section 13 process, so the tenant can challenge them if necessary. That is really important in giving tenants the assurance that they need. We will allow only one rent increase per year and will increase the required notice to give tenants longer to prepare for rent increases.

The noble Lords, Lord Shipley, Lord Howard and Lord Inglewood, all raised the issue of rent appeals. We will give tenants greater confidence to challenge unfair rent increases at the First-tier Tribunal by ensuring that the tenant will not pay more than the landlord originally asked for, following a tribunal determination. We are going further. We will end the practice of backdating rent increases, to prevent tenants being thrust into debt. To protect the most vulnerable tenants, in cases of undue hardship the tribunal will be able to delay the start of the rent increase for up to two months. Taken together, these measures ensure that tenants have a right of appeal, and prevent rent increases being used as a back-door route to eviction.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Grender, Lady Jones and Lady Janke, and my noble friends Lady Lister and Lord Davies spoke passionately about rent controls. This is an important topic for me to clarify. The Government have no plans to implement rent controls. Doing so may hinder rather than help the market. The evidence strongly suggests that controls would have a long-term negative impact on housing supply, discouraging investment and leading to declining property standards. Heavy-handed controls tend to mean higher rents at the start of a tenancy and can make it harder for tenants to find a home. They also encourage the growth of unregulated subletting, as seen in countries such as Sweden, where rent controls have been introduced. These can leave the most vulnerable tenants exposed to even higher costs and minimal protections. That is not to say that the Government do not care deeply about affordability. We are helping with the practical steps of ending bidding wars, prohibiting requests for large amounts of upfront rent and empowering tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases.

Noble Lords have suggested that the rent-in-advance provisions will make it harder for some tenants to access the private rented sector. We have heard the arguments that requesting large amounts of rent in advance can give landlords the confidence to let. However, for the majority of renters, who do not have access to large cash reserves, these requests are simply too big a price to pay. In terms of guarantors, landlords and agents will have the final say on who they let their property to.

We are clear that landlords should consider a tenant’s individual circumstances when negotiating the rental. They are free to agree rental conditions within the law that best enable a sustainable tenancy. Landlords will be able to continue to take a holding deposit of up to one week’s rent and a tenancy deposit of five or six weeks’ rent.

I see my time is drawing to a close, so I am going to conclude my remarks. I knew I would not get through all the issues, but I will respond in writing to all noble Peers who have taken part in the debate to answer the other questions. I reiterate my thanks to your Lordships for engagement with the Bill to this point. As the Bill progresses, I am very happy to accommodate any request from noble Lords for additional briefings, wherever possible and helpful.

The Renters’ Rights Bill honours our Government’s manifesto commitment to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector. I believe these reforms take great strides in empowering tenants, giving them greater security and stopping them from being exploited. Landlords will also be supported, and rogue operators who tarnish the reputation of the good ones will be driven out. It is important to reiterate that the intention is not to demonise landlords or tenants; they both want stable tenancies with well-maintained properties and regular rent payments. I look forward very much to working with your Lordships during the passage of this important Bill, and I commend the Bill to the House.

Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

Moved by

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage]

That the Bill be committed to a Committee of the Whole House, and that it be an instruction to the Committee of the Whole House that they consider the Bill in the following order: Clauses 1 to 4, Schedule 1, Clauses 5 to 31, Schedule 2, Clauses 32 to 74, Schedule 3, Clauses 75 to 101, Schedule 4, Clause 102, Schedule 5, Clauses 103 to 146, Schedule 6, Clauses 147 to 149, Title.

Motion agreed.

Car Parking Companies

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Spellar]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to regulate car parking companies with regard to the charges that they can impose on motorists.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, we understand the frustrations and complexities that motorists face in dealing with private parking, so we are exploring all possible ways to give motorists the best protection and support. We want to strike a balance between ensuring that parking charges and debt recovery fees are at a reasonable level and allowing parking operators to manage car parks effectively. We are planning to launch a consultation—I am not going to say “in due course”—during this year, which will include options for capping charges and debt recovery fees.

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that reply. She will be aware that the legislation to regulate the behaviour of parking companies was passed by Parliament in 2019, yet because of obstruction by the industry it is still not in force and motorists are still being hit with excessive and unfair charges. Does she accept that the industry’s business model depends on access to the Government’s DVLA database? Unless companies are prepared to co-operate, should they not be cut off from access to that system? That may rather get their attention and co-operation.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for the non-controversial Question of the day and for all the campaigning he has done on this issue; I know it is a great frustration to so many people. The problem was that, when the code was laid in 2022 as a result of the 2019 Act, there was a legal challenge and it had to be withdrawn. We are going out to consultation again, to make sure that we do the consultation properly and thoroughly. We will bring forward a further code of practice in due course, once that consultation has been done properly. I understand the point my noble friend is making. If he wants to put in a submission to the consultation, we would be very pleased to hear it.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as introducing and taking through the House in 1889—

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

In 1989, not 1889—I was a little young then. I took through the House the Parking Bill, which introduced cashless parking into this country for the first time. I am sure noble Lords will be very pleased about that. Subsequently, as has been referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, in his excellent question, my right honourable friend Sir Gregory Knight, who was the MP in Yorkshire, introduced this further parking Act, which had clear instructions for a code of practice to be introduced. The Minister mentioned that that was put on hold in 2022. Surely we can now make some progress, because we all know of the many abuses which take place, particularly in the private parking industry.

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, I have not been in this ministerial post since 2022. I will now take action on this as quickly as I can. I thank the noble Lord for his work on this and agree that it is very important that we get it resolved as quickly as possible. The industry did step up and produce its own code of practice, covering the whole private parking industry. That was a step forward, but we need to do what it says in the Act and introduce a government code of practice. We will get on with that as quickly as possible.

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, the code of conduct has been discussed today. It was withdrawn after only four months. In the policy document and consultation that the Government plan, will they be looking at the issue of motorists who have been charged nearly £2,000 for taking more than five minutes to pay for their parking?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

That was some of the worst practice that we have seen, and there has been a lot of media interest in this. I see, as probably we all do, people wrestling to download apps when there is no wifi, so that they can pay their parking charges. Both private parking trade associations have recognised this as an issue. They have worked collaboratively to take immediate steps to ensure that motorists no longer receive parking charges in that kind of scenario. This came into effect at the start of February. We welcome those steps taken by the industry, but there is still more to do.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, in her consultation, will the Minister ensure that she links up with the devolved Government in Cardiff? Many of these companies operate in England and in Wales. In Wales, some of the regulations may vary and they take no notice of them. Can she include that in any consultation?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I hope that anybody in Wales who is interested in this will contribute to the consultation. We want much better practice in these arrangements, across the United Kingdom. Any contributions to the consultation will be welcome.

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

My Lords, when I was campaigning to ban cowboy wheel-clampers, otherwise known as modern-day highway robbers—a campaign in which the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, was very helpful—I was very aware of the need for the Security Industry Authority to have adequate powers to deal with rogue parking companies that come up with more and more ingenious ways to persecute motorists. Can my noble friend liaise with Ministers in the Home Office to ensure that the Security Industry Authority, perhaps during the consultation that she has talked about, has adequate powers to punish those rogue companies that persecute motorists?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I very much understand the issues that my noble friend has outlined. We will do our best to work across government. That is a Home Office issue, but I would be happy to meet her and the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, to discuss this further.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that, following the judicial review that she mentioned of the code of conduct, the department promised to publish an impact assessment? It did publish draft impact assessments but has not yet published the full impact assessments. Is the reason for that that the impact assessments show that the £100 dropping to £40 does work and that the problem is that councils, which can charge only £50, dropping to £25, are not able to enforce parking restrictions because it simply is not economic?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am not sure why the full impact assessment was not published. The accredited trade association’s voluntary cap on private parking charges is £100, as the noble Lord will be aware. I will look into the issue around local authority caps on parking charges and get back to him.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it the case that many government departments use consultations as a reason not to do something? Is it not about time that we put timescales on these things and make sure that departments act on behalf of the public?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I understand my noble friend’s frustration, but the previous code of practice failed because things had been put into it that were not subject to consultation. It is very important that the consultation does take place this time, otherwise the next code of practice will fail as well.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that, if more towns provided free car parking, many more town centres might be thriving instead of dying?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I think many local authorities would say that the fees and charges that they charge for parking help with the enormous gap in funding that they have faced in the last 14 years, and that is one of the reasons why they do it. It is for the voters of the local areas to decide whether or not the parking policies in their area are sound; local people can challenge parking policies if they wish to.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

Does the Minister share my concern about the level of hospital parking charges, which seem to be completely unregulated? Will she look at this at the earliest opportunity?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am sorry: I missed the start of the noble Baroness’s question.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

Will the noble Baroness look at the astronomically high level of hospital parking charges, which seem to go completely unregulated?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

Once again, I understand the frustrations about this. It is for hospital trusts to decide how they manage their own parking arrangements, and people can challenge that. However, I appreciate that there are significant issues in that respect. I am sorry to keep repeating it, but if the noble Baroness wishes to put in a submission to the consultation, I would be grateful to hear from her.

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister, whom we all have very high respect for, aware that certain local authorities discriminate against four-wheel drive vehicles parking in town centres? I can hear the Liberal Democrats saying, “Quite right, too”, but for those of us who live in rural areas, having a four-wheel drive is not unusual, and in many cases it is a necessity. Four-wheel drive vehicles are part and parcel of the countryside, and sometimes we wish to visit town centres. Can the Minister look into this matter?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I can remember the letters. Local authorities are best placed to determine the nature and scope of parking policies in their own areas, including whether parking should be provided free, balancing the needs of residents, emergency services and local businesses that work in and visit those areas. There is a right to challenge now, which was published in 2015, which advises how residents can challenge and cause a formal review of parking policies in their local area. If the noble Lord is worried about four-wheel drive parking, he can always challenge that with his local authority.