Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Debate between Lord Crisp and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Committee stage
Tuesday 9th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord and am happy to reflect on any issues raised in Committee. If he wants further discussions on it, I am happy to have those.

[Lord Crisp (CB)]

My Lords, this has been another good, if lengthy, debate, which I thought mixed very well the principles and the practical. A lot of very practical points came up, such as those about the financial impact of activity from the noble Baroness, Lady Grey- Thompson, and the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan; the very practical proposals from my noble friend Lord Carlile about the design principles; and some very important points from the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, about the links between health and planning and whether those are actually brought together, anatomising the various ways in which it does not look as if they are.

I have listened very carefully to the Minister, and I will look at what she has to say about how the proposals that I and others have been putting forward cut across what is already happening in the various proposals from the Government. If I may, when I have done that, I might wish to come back to talk to her before Report to discuss those particular issues.

I shall resist the temptation to ask one last question. With all that panoply of action that the Government are taking, what happens if the result we all want is not delivered? How do we secure the actual delivery? But I am not going to ask that question at this point, and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Housing: Permitted Development Rights

Debate between Lord Crisp and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage

Wednesday 18th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Crisp]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what is their policy on creating additional housing units through permitted development rights.

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

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Crisp, for his Question and for all the work he has done on healthy homes. Under nationally set permitted development rights, a wide range of commercial and other buildings are able to change use without the need for a planning application. The Government acknowledge the concerns that exist about the quality of residential units created through permitted development rights, particularly office-to-residential conversions. We will continue to keep permitted development rights under review, and we are grateful to the National Housing Federation and the TCPA for highlighting some of the issues arising from poor-quality PD schemes.

[Lord Crisp (CB)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that response and for the fact that this is being kept under review. I was also pleased to hear from a government spokesman last week that there is to be

“no trade-off between supply and quality”

in respect of housing. However, as the noble Baroness said, PDR has a poor record. Some very good conversions are made but a large number suffer from safety and other problems. I want to ask two questions. How will the noble Baroness ensure that that poor track record is not just continued into the future? Also, in reviewing it, will she meet some of the people who have already done so and come to conclusions about it to ensure that there is indeed no trade-off between housing supply and quality?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government’s aim in the delivery of the 1.5 million homes is to deliver good quality, well-designed, sustainable homes and places that everyone can be proud of. I have already met both the TCPA and the National Housing Federation, which have been campaigning on this. I am very aware of some of the poor practice that has occurred, and we will continue to advocate for the principles of good design, as set out in the National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code. As I say, we keep permitted development under review.