Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the South Downs Society. Amendment 35A is in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Renton, who very much regrets that he is not able to get away from snowy Sussex today. The amendment would ensure that the stated intention of Clause 8, to facilitate the rollout of broadband in the national parks, does only that. Mobile phone masts would not be allowed; nor would any different economic purpose of any future Secretary of State be permitted. The Minister has explained, in a very helpful meeting held with her officials, that it is difficult to put this restriction in the Bill and that regulations will make it quite clear that only broadband is in mind. However, I think we need to debate this openly and see the text of the regulations before we accept the very wide power that is on the face of the Bill to install equipment in some of our most cherished and beautiful landscapes. Who knows what some future Secretary of State might want to do?
In Committee, we debated very thoroughly the danger to our national parks, briefed then, as now, by a wide range of organisations representing planning and the countryside, as well as by the Sunday Telegraph a couple of days ago. I do not propose to rehearse the arguments again, but I remind noble Lords that those concerns were shared all round your Lordships’ House. Nobody disputes the importance of broadband in rural areas or wants to impede it in any way. Equally, nobody was able to produce any evidence of difficulty which broadband operators had with any national park, and there were several examples of successful co-operation. Nor was any evidence of or anticipation of trouble given by BT when representatives kindly came to talk to us recently.
In short, there is no need for extensive powers, and the narrower the power, the better. We should be very careful about any precedent-setting power which could imperil the landscapes which parliamentarians before us fought to defend in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Those landscapes are unique and they are vulnerable. I beg to move.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham)
My Lords, as the noble Baroness has explained, the amendment has been tabled to prevent Clause 8 from being used to relax planning requirements for mobile masts. We discussed it extensively in Committee. If that is the intention of the amendment, I fear that it does not have the desired effect; nor would any amendment along these lines. I shall explain why.
At every stage of the Bill’s passage, we have made it clear that Clause 8 was brought forward to enable us to make changes to secondary legislation in relation to fixed broadband infrastructure, not mobile. Further to those reassurances in both Houses of Parliament, as noble Lords will be aware, we published a consultation on 29 January on the proposed changes to secondary legislation that Clause 8 will enable. That consultation also made it clear that the changes in Clause 8 relate only to fixed broadband infrastructure—cabinets and poles. As has been made clear previously in this House and in the other place, it is not possible to limit the scope of the clause to a particular infrastructure or technology. Clause 8 can make no distinction between fixed or mobile infrastructure, because Article 8(1) of the framework directive 2002/21/EC requires technology neutrality.
That is not to say that different technologies or infrastructures all have to be treated the same. They can be treated differently where it is objectively justifiable and proportionate, but that is done at the level of secondary rather than primary legislation. For example, the relative visual impact of different types of communications apparatus is sufficient to justify a differing treatment in planning terms.
As I mentioned, the amendment does not achieve the desired effect. Use of the term “broadband infrastructure” could equally apply to mobile infrastructure, such as mobile masts which provide 3G or 4G mobile services. They would also qualify as broadband infrastructure.
We could not limit the scope of any changes to broadband infrastructure, as that would prevent changes being made to narrowband infrastructure, which might impact on the delivery of narrowband voice services, which would include the 999 service. I am sure that the noble Baroness would not want that.
I can only reiterate that the distinction between fixed and mobile will be delivered through secondary legislation, through regulations which I think are already out to consultation. This measure will be introduced to provide certainty and will be an additional deployment option to enable superfast broadband to be rolled out in the more commercially challenging parts of the UK. As the noble Baroness said, these areas have people’s hearts in them and they do not like to think that they will be changed. I hope the noble Baroness will understand that there is no intention to try to prevaricate in any way or to try to introduce mobile by this clause. It is limited by the secondary legislation but because of the necessity under the EU regulations we have to do it this way. I hope that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I am sure the noble Lord has seen from the other amendments that are coming up that we will be discussing the code of practice on probably the next amendment or the one after. At that stage I believe that I will be able to give the noble Lord the assurances he seeks.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, I echo the thanks of my noble friend Lord Adonis for the very detailed explanation by the noble Baroness, who was very helpful to the many organisations which share my concerns. I am also grateful for her specific explanation of the role of the framework directive as this will now be in Hansard and will be official. That also will be helpful. Her remarks on the consultation on the regulations are reassuring and, if I may, I will have another look at the Government’s text. In the mean time I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham(11 years, 9 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for introducing these amendments. I will move the government amendments, as he asked. I very much welcome the scrutiny that noble Lords have given this clause. We have looked very carefully at the issues raised, and I am very glad to be able to bring forward the amendments in this group that respond to them.
In Committee, concern was expressed about the need for greater reassurance and stronger safeguards in relation to the way that this clause could be used. This was also reflected in the reports of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Select Committee on the Constitution. The amendments we propose are designed to provide that reassurance by making very clear in the Bill the circumstances in which this clause may be used and by providing Parliament with an opportunity to consider the criteria by which planning authorities’ performance would be assessed.
Amendment 4 will ensure that applications for major development only can be submitted directly to the Secretary of State. The point was made quite forcefully in Committee that there should be a determination as to which applications were caught by these provisions. A number of noble Lords argued for this, and what we are doing now gives the Secretary of State the power to prescribe what “major development” means for this purpose. We intend to use the existing definition found in secondary legislation; for example, 10 houses or more or an equivalent amount of commercial space. This approach reflects the change that the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, proposed in Amendment 3, and I am grateful to him for saying that he thinks what we have done is sufficient for him perhaps not to take his amendment any further.
Amendment 7 makes two important changes. First, it puts beyond any doubt that an authority could be designated under the clause only if it is not performing adequately in handling planning applications. Again, in doing this we are responding positively to the arguments put forward in Committee. Secondly, it requires that the criteria for designating authorities—and, indeed, for lifting any designation—must be laid before both Houses for a period of 40 sitting days before they come into effect only if there has been no vote in either House to the effect that the document should not be approved. We will come to what we expect those criteria to be when we debate the next group.
I believe these changes provide a powerful safeguard against any perceived future misuse of the powers that Clause 1 confers on the Secretary of State. I do not think there is any need to go further and require an affirmative procedure for the criteria, as Amendments 1 and 14 would require, as that would take us well beyond the sort of safeguards that underpin other performance regimes. It is also worth noting that where similar powers were taken by the previous Government in the Local Government Act 1999, the Education Act 1996 and the National Health Service Act 2006 there is no parliamentary scrutiny on the criteria that the relevant Secretaries of State use before exercising their powers. To go further than we propose would mean an unnecessarily protracted process for any changes that do not need to be made.
Amendments 8, 11 and 12 make some minor consequential changes to the clause. A further consequence is Amendment 53, relating to Clause 31, which provides for early commencement of proposed new Section 62B. This is for one reason only, which is to allow Parliament sufficient time to consider the criteria we propose to use while still allowing any initial designations to be made in October this year, as we set out in our consultation paper. This change has no impact on when the remainder of Clause 1 would come into effect.
The noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, has not spoken to Amendment 10. I am not sure whether I shall move my amendments and give her an opportunity to do that. We have not heard from her. I think this is a bit unusual but since she seems to have missed the cut, I will move my amendments and leave the noble Baroness to speak to hers.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, I agree with my noble friend Lord McKenzie’s inference from the responses to the consultation and welcome the direction of travel of the Minister’s amendment, but I shall argue for more specificity in the Bill. I speak to Amendment 10 in my name and that of the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, who regrets that he cannot be here today. What I shall say has been drawn up with him, and I am grateful for his expert support and that of the Town and Country Planning Association. Perhaps I should also declare that I am an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Our amendment is tabled because of a gap in the concept of designation. Of all the evidence of poor performance by a planning authority, the one that has a particularly adverse effect on quality of life, as well as the local economy, is bad design, coupled with lack of sustainability, but that is not specified in the Bill. That power is open to wide discretion, whereas, at the other extreme, the consultation’s proposals for failing authorities are pretty mechanistic and relate to speed and appeal decisions—not tests of quality but, rather, tick-box exercises to check compliance. The impact of designation on local democracy is very powerful, and speed and compliance with the NPPF with regard to appeal decisions should not, I submit, be enough to prompt a designation decision. That should be taken in the round and take full account of the quality of outcomes. That is particularly important because the broad principles in the NPPF are themselves open to quite a degree of interpretation.
The two extremes of a vague, wide power in the Bill and narrow, mechanistic tests for failure omit the real point of good planning—to approve development that is durable and practical, acceptable to residents and capable of improving their total environment as well as, in the long term, saving public money. That cannot be done without an informed approach to design; but design capacity is still very patchy among planning authorities, and many succumb to the will or blandishments of developers who may well not have the long-term interest of the local community at heart.
Therefore, the amendment makes it necessary for the Secretary of State to consider what the authority has done by way of contributing to sustainable development and good design, which complements existing duties in planning legislation rather than enabling them to be overridden. He has also to consider, in addition, what the local views are so that, for instance, if a neighbourhood has developed design criteria but cannot get the planning authority either to accept them or to draw up its own, it is not short changed by the process. Finally, he must consider what any wider public interest might be. That latter obligation enables discretion to be used when necessary, so that it is not a matter of a fixed threshold being triggered. Finally, the Secretary of State must publish his or her reasons for designating according to the criteria in the amendment, which element of transparency I hope that the noble Baroness will also support.
In conclusion, the amendment would go a long way to protect residents from the kind of system failure in design and sustainability which poor planning authorities all too often let themselves in for. In that way, growth and infrastructure really could work properly. I commend the amendment.
Housing: New Homes Bonus
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I am a little bit surprised by the noble Lord’s statement, and particularly his suggestion that there is a per person sum involved in this. The new homes bonus is paid against the background of new homes. It is based on the number of homes that are provided in any particular area and on the average of the council tax base across the country. Where there is a number of band A properties, a certain amount of money will be produced, across the country, and bands G and H will produce the same. If I could just correct the noble Lord, in the top 30 recipients of the new homes bonus, there are seven in the north. Bradford, Durham, Leeds, Manchester, Salford, Sheffield and Wakefield are working hard and doing well.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, can the Minister say how much of the new homes bonus has been spent on sites for Gypsies and Travellers and, if she cannot, would she write to me?
Baroness Hanham
I cannot say specifically for a new home, but if new homes were being provided for Travellers, the new homes bonus would be paid. To the specific question about numbers, I will have to write to the noble Baroness.
Disability: Black and Minority-ethnic Disabled People
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I have already mentioned the disability plan, which is in the process of being put forward, and where that strategy has advice from black and minority-ethnic groups. The Government do not think that a race equality strategy would add very much to the current position, with its focus on the barriers faced by disabled people. There are duties under the equality strategy, which I think is now 90% introduced. This is not a question entirely of race and disability but of ensuring that individuals have access to the services that they need and are known to the authorities when they need to be so that their requirements are met. That goes across the board. In short answer to the noble Baroness, we do not think at the moment that a race equality strategy would add anything to the Government’s position.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, will the noble Baroness seek to remedy the omission in the Scope report? It took no account of the needs of people with disabilities from the Gypsy and Traveller community. I remind the House that Gypsies and Travellers are a recognised minority-ethnic community.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, they are indeed recognised as a community, and I am aware that it is a community on which people concentrate. There should be access to information from them about their needs.
Localism Bill
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for these amendments. I will resist the temptation, if I may, to respond to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury. It is a very specific case and not in the general terms of this amendment, which concerns homelessness, in particular people who become intentionally homeless.
As I have said previously, the amendments seek to put a bit more bureaucracy into the work that local authorities do and for which they have duties. Indeed, the Local Government Ombudsman, in the report that was referred to, acknowledged that the homeless legislation and duties within it are clear, although these are perhaps not always carried out in the way they should be.
Homelessness is a terrible thing and nobody would stand here and say that we should not try to deal with it in the most expeditious way possible. The noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, who is very much involved in dealing with homelessness and who had a very good reputation, if I might say so, as a Minister, has laid out very clearly the difficulties inherent in reducing homelessness, though the fact is that it can be done. I think that, in London, the mayor has introduced a one-night-only policy whereby people are not able to be homeless for more than one night. They should be found, fed and given accommodation. That sort of flexibility and ability to move on one’s feet is required as regards anything to do with the resolution of homelessness matters.
Once again, I will resist getting too dogmatic and bureaucratic about this. We know that there were 188,000 cases of prevention and relief in 2010-11. Many people who were helped and assisted with accommodation would not have been recognised as statutorily homeless. The Government working in partnership with local authorities rather than compelling them to do things makes that work better. Putting housing options and homelessness prevention work on a statutory footing would be overly burdensome and probably counterproductive because it would become a tick-box exercise, which we do not believe is the correct way to deal with individual cases.
As regards Amendments 5 and 15, it is important to reiterate what I have made clear previously. A person should not be found intentionally homeless if the only reason for their homelessness is that he or she cannot afford their accommodation because of a reduction in financial resources outside their control. Therefore, they will be helped under those circumstances.
We have also said that a local authority owes those who are intentionally homeless and in priority need a duty to secure that accommodation is available for a period that will help them to get back on their feet. Placing a duty on local authorities—
Baroness Whitaker
Will the noble Baroness say how the arrangements that she prefers apply to Gypsies and Travellers? I will not take one particular case but, nationally, 25,000 Gypsies and Travellers are homeless and they very much need advice and assistance on what legal sites can be made available to them. In the years she quoted when so many homeless people were found accommodation, no accommodation was made available for those 25,000. Basildon is only one example, albeit perhaps the worst at present. How can arrangements be made other than through these sensible amendments to accommodate 25,000 homeless people?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, the noble Baroness will know that there is already a requirement under legislation for local authorities to identify land that can be made available for Gypsies and Travellers in their local area, and in conjunction and agreement with local residents. There is already a recognition that Travellers are in a special position. However, a lot of Travellers are no longer travellers. Some of these people have put down permanent roots, although not always with approval. While they clearly need the help of the local authority and nothing should take that away, they do not always require accommodation.
Baroness Whitaker
The 25,000 people I mentioned are all nomadic Travellers. The recognition to which the noble Baroness refers has not resulted in sites being provided for them.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I think that local authorities are being asked to identify sites at the moment. It may be that they are not all available at present but, as I have said previously in the House, the Government have recognised the requirement to ensure that Travellers have somewhere to put their caravans and tents in order to be helped.
Localism Bill
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Whitaker
I apologise for interrupting the noble Baroness, but I am not quite clear how the national policy planning framework will bite on neighbourhood decisions. How are they bound by the national framework?
Baroness Hanham
They will be bound by the local development plan, and the national policy framework will impact on them through that. The local development plan must have more than regard to the national planning policy framework, and that will bite through the local authorities’ plans.
Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Consequential Amendments to the Mobile Homes Act 1983) Order 2011
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham(13 years, 8 months ago)
Grand CommitteeRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have attended the Committee and for their comments. It is correct that the definition of Gypsies and Travellers was changed as a result of concerns expressed about it. However, for the purposes of the order and for it to come under the Mobile Homes Act, the definition had to revert to that provided in the 1960 Act; otherwise, Gypsies and Travellers could not have been encompassed by it. Gypsy and Traveller sites as they are defined pending commencement of Section 318 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 are excluded from the Mobile Homes Act. That is why we went back to the 1960 Act, under which they are not.
The exclusion from the 1983 Act of local authority Gypsy or Traveller sites relates to land and not to people. It is not the Gypsies who are affected by it but the sites. Gypsies and Travellers who rent pitches on private sites have agreements under the Mobile Homes Act.
Baroness Whitaker
When the order comes into force, will Gypsy, Roma and Travellers who from time to time live in settled accommodation have equal rights of tenure?
Baroness Hanham
I am receiving lots of nods from behind me—if you saw them, it was four nodding-of-heads. I shall interpret that as yes.
I hope that I have adequately explained why we have had to amend the definition. If we had not, we would not have been able to include Gypsies and Travellers in the orders.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, as I understand it, if that is the conclusion, it means that we cannot bring the order forward. Without the original definition, we cannot change the Mobile Homes Act, which is the purpose of the order. As I understand it, Section 318 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 will bring forward the other definition when it is implemented. This is a short-term problem that will be rectified by the introduction of Section 318.
Baroness Whitaker
Will this be explained in some kind of advisory note or guidance, so that at least the Gypsy, Roma and Travellers’ representatives will know what the law is?
Baroness Hanham
This is obviously very important, and whatever advice goes forward will be recorded in Hansard. I know that probably they do not read it very closely, but somebody might. But it will be made clear that that is the situation.
Arbitration agreements were brought up by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, and the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker. As we understand it, very few agreements are subject to arbitration. These are mostly for park home sites, not Gypsy and Traveller sites, so arbitration will not be a huge problem from that point of view. The arbitrator’s function has been moved to the residential tribunal, and is likely to come up on termination or possession. If an agreement is subject to arbitration, the transfer is to the tribunal for termination not possession, but an arbitration provision has to be agreed to by the resident. If there is no agreement at all, termination—and by that I include possession—will be dealt with in the court. So there is a route to court in this matter.
Baroness Whitaker
The problem is that a contract or agreement will be drawn up by the local authority with the arbitration provision, and the tenant or caravan occupier may not realise that that completely ousts all possibility of their taking an unresolved dispute after the tribunal to the court. How could that be tackled?
Baroness Hanham
Let us go back to possession. Only a court can grant possession, so the tribunal proceedings would not deal with possession. It is always dealt with in the courts. My previous remarks referred to termination, where, if there was no agreement by the resident, it could go to court. By both routes it can end up in court, but with possession it starts and is completed in court. You cannot have possession that does not go through the courts.
I was fascinated to learn that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott, was on the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee. The way in which it is laid out, there were no challenges from the committee—I am sorry, from the JCSI—on this matter. My advice is that there is no need for a notice period to be specified, because the Caravan Sites Act 1968 already provides that the occupier on quitting early must give four weeks’ notice. That requirement has not been changed. Terms of occupation will be set out in a written statement, which will be given to the occupier who is coming on for three months.
Housing
Debate between Baroness Whitaker and Baroness Hanham
Baroness Whitaker
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to meet the need for new housing.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham)
My Lords, we recognise the need for new homes and are committed to increasing housing supply. We will take a bottom-up rather than top-down approach so, instead of imposing unwanted developments on local communities and creating opposition to new housing, we intend to provide financial incentives to local authorities that build additional housing. This will allow local communities really to benefit from the proceeds of growth.
Baroness Whitaker
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her valiant Answer, but it is estimated that over 1.5 million households need affordable homes, yet the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, is reported to have said that he sees little or no role for public housing. Where are the new affordable homes to come from, including in the countryside, where only 13 per cent of homes are affordable, and why is it fair to cut the grant to the Homes and Communities Agency by £230 million when this will deprive the most needy of an affordable roof over their heads?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, the HCA, like every other aspect of public authorities, has been affected by the disastrous financial position in which we have been left. Like everyone else, it has to take its reduction. Of course, we are going to try to support affordable housing as much as we can. The House will know that under the last Government only 29,000 affordable houses were built each year, which is well below the figure of 39,000 under the previous Conservative Government. We will do as much as we can to support affordable housing, including when private developers get planning permissions.