Local Enterprise Partnerships: Funding

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, the Government have published guidance for the transfer of LEP functions to local authorities. Further guidance will be issued in January. As part of our devolution settlements in different areas, there are also clear conditions around how business engagement should take place to ensure that the voices of local businesses and their representative organisations are well heard in those areas.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, is it not unusual that within local enterprise partnerships, some of those participating were rivals with one another? Is it not best to ensure that, after all this time, we take another look at Redcliffe-Maud and have stronger bodies and authorities, with more competent clerks, to make it a really good and efficient system?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

One important aspect of moving LEP functions into local authorities and mayoral combined authorities is making sure they cover appropriate economic geographies so they can deliver for those areas. In having proper democratic accountability, it will be clear to local businesses and local people who is responsible for economic development in their area.

Housebuilding

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Wednesday 7th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Cross Benches.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords—

Housebuilding

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

We are collaborating across government to ensure that we are supporting the sector. The Department for Education is improving training routes into construction and creating opportunities for workers to retrain by working with employers to make apprenticeships available and more flexible and to promote T-levels. The Government are increasing funding for apprenticeships across all sectors, including construction, to £2.7 billion in 2024-25. We are continuing to fund more apprenticeships in non-levy-funded employers, which are often SMEs, and the Government will continue to meet 95% of the apprenticeship training cost for those companies.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

Can my noble friend estimate the significance of a recent report that the Nationwide Building Society has been directly involved in the construction of 239 properties on wasteland? This would suggest that there are other ways that we can make sure that the Government’s target figure can be met.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. We need to look at all types of construction ideas and use whatever financial incentives we can to ensure that we are building the houses that we know we need.

Levelling Up Fund

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, no, I cannot, except to say that one bid must have been better than another. I understand that unsuccessful applicants will be disappointed, but I am pleased to say that we have confirmed that there will be a third round of the fund. Further details will be set out in due course.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that a bid at this stage to improve access to our ports would be timely and should almost speak for itself in obtaining favour?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is probably correct in that. I would encourage any ports that need better access to make them even better, particularly if they are freeports, to look at the third round of bidding.

Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 17th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, levelling up has become a much-used expression these days. It has somehow morphed into a feeling on people’s part that it refers exclusively to up north. There has been sufficient recognition in this debate that that is not so: the case is accepted for there being levelling up in various parts of our country.

In my time in the east of England I have seen things that have not been acceptable in terms of when something might be done to level up in those places. When I was the Member for Saffron Walden in the other place, I had people who lived along a very busy road, then called the A604, between Colchester and Cambridge. When I tried to respond on behalf of constituents in villages along that road who found it very dangerous and wanted a bypass, I was taken aside and told “No, no. What’s going to happen is that the A120 will be dualled between Colchester and Stansted, and that is the solution.” That was 50 years ago, and it still has not happened. Then, of course, the other great gift for my constituency from government was the decision to use Stansted Airport as London’s third airport. It is a pity that 50% of the track on the railway line that ran between London and Cambridge had been taken up on the recommendations of Dr Beeching. So far, it has not been replaced.

Therefore there is indeed strong feeling in many places where we do not feel that we are getting sufficient attention. Geography should not be the sole test of where investment should go. It should go where investment in new industry is needed, where new housing is necessary and where there are improved transport links, not to mention other facilities that need to be guaranteed, such as schools and medical centres. How can that best be achieved? I remember reading the Redcliffe-Maud report to which my noble friend Lord Heseltine referred. I came in as a new Member of Parliament in 1970, and the Government who I supported in general decided against the Redcliffe-Maud recommendations and maintained a two-tier system.

I am afraid that the experience that I have had since representing constituents is that two-tier local government has not proved to be the best approach to overcoming the problems. However, there are signs that the combined authorities that exist in one or two places seem to be doing rather better in satisfying the needs of their population. I support the Government’s proposal in that respect and the fact that they are prepared to look at other models which reduce the number of accountable elected bodies—more space, more place, and more probability that a good transport system can be established. I urge the Government that if a transport system that is internal to a city region is needed, they should keep a very close eye on the very light rail project being developed in Coventry with the co-operation of the University of Warwick.

Given the powers that the Government are proposing, there is also a chance of a bipartisan approach within the new bodies created. I hope so. Every effort should made to ensure that. It is also important that there be a marriage between the overall planning body and the various neighbourhood plans which people have worked on over the years. One wants to have a coming together on those matters. I believe that this legislation has to be given a chance with a force of good will behind it and lessons learned from the past. It can then help to convert the mood of resistance to change which has been shown by so many people to one of hope.

Housing (Built Environment Committee Report)

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Tuesday 8th November 2022 Lords Chamber

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

My Lords, an error on my part has led me to speak in the gap in a truncated contribution and I apologise. This report is a comprehensive canter round the course of housing demand. The committee is to be congratulated. I want to speak narrowly. Paragraph 180 states:

“The Local Government Association set out proposals to help councils encourage faster build out rates”,


including

“a streamlined compulsory purchase process to acquire (at pre-uplift value)”.

The words “pre-uplift value” need interpretation if the public are to understand this report.

I have previously argued that some development land valuation should not be based on planning decisions but on agricultural value, with an uplift for administrative and infrastructural redevelopment costs, which means CPO. I see no reason why huge profits to landowners at the cost of house buyers should turn on the granting of planning permissions. I further argue that while Section 106 agreements are helpful, they are a complex alternative: even where they sit alongside community infrastructural levies, they often cannot deliver.

According to the report, at paragraph 54, the Affordable Housing Commission reports a substantial increase in the private rental sector and a contraction in social housing. Due to the timing, the committee was unable to comment on the recent explosion in interest rates and the consequent increased demand for cheaper public sector rental property. The problem here is that pressure on housing availability is being used not only by heavily indebted landlords but also by others carrying little debt to take advantage of housing shortage and force up rents. We have reports of 25% to 30% increases at a time when working families are under heavy pressure due to wider cost of living increases. The truth is that the table in paragraph 53 of the report on average monthly housing costs is now totally out of date as the impact of inflation feeds through into increased rent levels.

Finally, I have just a few words on the taxation of rental income. In a debate in 2017, I drew on work by the London Borough of Newham, which has established a licensing system not only to protect tenants but to ensure that tax is paid on landlord rental incomes. The IPPR had recently estimated that the Revenue lost £183 million in a single year in London alone. In Newham, only 13,000 out of 26,000 landlords had registered with HMRC for self-assessment. I wish the Revenue well as it follows this up—I hope it does so.

This is a brilliant report providing an abundance of research material to be used in the year to come. I will certainly use it again in further debates.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I too am on restricted time. Nevertheless, I record my thanks to my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe and the staff of the committee—

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I am very sorry, but I am afraid the noble Lord is not down to speak in this debate, and we already have two other speakers in the gap.

I am told that the noble Lord, Lord Haselhurst, is welcome to speak in the gap, but perhaps he could wait for the other two speakers who already have their names down.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak and I apologise that I was not able to get my name in at the proper point before the debate began.

Building 300,000 new homes a year was once a matter for rejoicing, if achieved, but now there is more likely to be a hail of protest when the schemes to meet that target are brought forward. Demand continues to exceed supply, prices rise and the dream of homeownership fades. It is amazing that the ferocity of opposition to many of these schemes comes from a belief about not wanting to see the loss of green fields, yet the people who feel like that do not seem to recognise that, as of April 2018, 91.5% of land in England is classified as non-developed.

A roof over your head is a contributory step towards a caring society. We should remember that this is a strong ambition for many people and, if they can fulfil that wish, perhaps in the same village or town where their parents have lived, they are helping to build a society with a strong social structure.

What can be done? We need more planners, as my noble friend Lord Moylan said, and this needs to be an enhanced profession. The building industry ought to try to shed its image which, though it may not like it, is of people wading around in mud and lugging piles of bricks. The building industry has far more about it now, much of which should attract bright young people.

On local authorities, we picked up some signs in the course of our hearings that large unitary authorities and combined authorities are making rather more progress in building houses, maybe because their packages are better and more attractive due to the greater scope they have for place and space.

Wider public consultation is the real difficulty, as has been brought out. In collective form, with representatives of all the different interests in the effect of plans, there are signs that people will come to recognise how a well-thought-out development can help keep schools not short of pupils, strengthen the viability of neighbourhood shops, maintain local transport, produce more insulated homes and boost care of the elderly. This is the better side of development and what we must create and promulgate.

Housing: Manifesto Commitment

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, we have plenty of time. Can we hear from my noble friend Lord Deben, then the Liberal Democrat Benches and then my noble friend Lord Naseby?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Haselhurst (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, the more that noble Lords row with each other, the less time there is to answer questions. I did say my noble friend Lord Naseby next, and then the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Haselhurst (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Morse. I thought their maiden speeches were admirable.

In view of what we have just heard from the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, I feel it necessary to go down a rather different path. The Government are commendably engaged in levelling up, with emphasis on the north and the Midlands. There is no question that these parts of the country need jobs and houses. In such a large-scale exercise, a vast and efficient train network is essential. To my mind, HS2 is a vital part of that if we are to transform in an upward direction the economies in parts of the country that have lagged behind.

Furthermore, the Government should put it beyond doubt that HS2 phase 2b will proceed. The east Midlands not having the benefits of the West Midlands and east of the Pennines not having the benefits of west of the Pennines is unthinkable. The noble Lord, Lord Snape, said he thought the Treasury had severe doubts, but perhaps he should remember that part of the Treasury being moved up to the north-east might bring about a change of opinion.

In terms of better rail services, it should not be forgotten that levelling up is long overdue in parts of the south and east. I point to the Anglian region—reminding your Lordships of my interest as chair of the West Anglia Taskforce—where the east coast ports have a great strategic significance for our country. The freight conveyed from them, largely by rail, needs to be assisted by increasing the capacity of the Ely junction, a proposal which I think is subject to public inquiry at the moment. The West Anglia Main Line is only a two-track railway, its third and fourth tracks having been removed after the recommendations of Lord Beeching some 60 years ago. That two-track railway has to support increased frequency in north-east London, the needs of Stansted Airport—the third London airport—and the expanding biomedical campus at Cambridge. Not all these things can be done on a two-track system in a way that satisfies any of the customers.

Liverpool Street station, which is the London central terminus for the West Anglia line, is an admirable Victorian structure but has very little scope to become a modern railway station meeting the needs of passengers, and it is now severely congested. There is now the possibility—or has been the possibility—that Stratford might also be a destination for trains on the West Anglia line. But the only space left that could possibly accommodate an extra platform at Stratford is more likely to be used, I am told, as an entertainment venue. The congestion already on the line makes it very difficult to encourage freight to be taken on the West Anglia line and off the roads which, otherwise, it has to use.

I look forward to learning how the promised railway White Paper assesses these and all the many other competing demands that I know exist. I suggest it might be helpful to have a clear, visible and comprehensive rail plan to take us forward, setting out all desirable improvements, what each might achieve and at what cost. It might also show how an entire project could be divided into sequential sections, some of which might attract local authority and private sector development. My hope is for nothing less than a railway revolution that will help to galvanise our economic regeneration throughout the country.

Levelling Up

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I fear that this is a mixing up of issues. We need to see that the levelling-up agenda is around the duty of a national Government helping to level up all areas of the United Kingdom, while devolution of funding is also occurring, as I have already mentioned.

[Lord Haselhurst (Con) [V]]

My Lords, while I warmly support the Government’s levelling-up plans, would my noble friend acknowledge that, regardless of their geographical location, perceived prosperity or supposed political affinity, too many parts of the country are still unreached by digital connectivity and superfast broadband? They would appreciate their own bit of levelling up in this increasingly important respect.

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government recognise the need to deal with the wider issues around the levelling-up agenda. I have pointed to the national infrastructure strategy, which is putting some £27 billion towards issues such as the zero-carbon agenda, transport infrastructure and, importantly, digital connectivity and infrastructure.