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Written Question
Private Rented Housing: Energy Performance Certificates
Tuesday 21st February 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many privately rented dwellings hold a current Energy Performance Certificate; and what proportion of those are certified in each of the bands A to H.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

All privately rented dwellings are required to have a valid Energy Performance Certificate when they are placed on the market. The English Housing Survey Private Rented Sector report provides an estimate of the proportion of privately rented dwellings in each rating band.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publishes data tables on all Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates lodged on the Energy Performance of Buildings Registers since 2008.


Written Question
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Publications
Monday 24th January 2022

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why the report "Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety" recently published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was not dated; which Government department is responsible for ensuring that all Government publications are dated;and what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure that dating practices are implemented throughout Whitehall.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

The publication date is automatically published when a department adds or publishes a page to GOV.UK . The Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety report was published on 10 January. The PDF’s have also been updated to include a date and will be refreshed on the website.


Written Question
Neighbourhood Development Plans
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what status a local government Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) has in any consideration by a planning inspector of an application that conflicts with the objectives of the NDP; and what guidance they have made available about the steps to take in the event of any such conflict.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Once adopted, neighbourhood plans become part of the development plan for the local area alongside the Local Plan. Planning law requires that decision takers, including planning inspectors, must determine planning applications in accordance with the development plan (including any neighbourhood plan) unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In addition, the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that where a planning application conflicts with an up-to-date development plan (including any neighbourhood plan), permission should not usually be granted.


Written Question
Neighbourhood Development Plans
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what legislation gives authority to a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP); and whether a NDP becomes invalid if there is no local plan which has already taken account of an NDP.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

The Localism Act 2011 effected amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, giving effect to Neighbourhood Plans. These amendments set out that once a neighbourhood plan is passed at referendum it becomes part of the development plan for the local area and the basis for decision-making. Planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The status of a neighbourhood plan as part of the development plan is unaffected by the absence of a Local Plan.


Written Question
Local Government: Property
Wednesday 20th May 2020

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which English local authorities are known to have invested public funds in the purchase of commercial property in the last two years; and which of those have reported losses to central Government in so doing in the last 12 months.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Government does not routinely collect data from local authorities on individual capital transactions. Local authorities submit financial data returns to Government covering total annual spend on capital investment, categorised by service area rather than asset type. Commercial activities are included in the category of ‘trading expenditure’. Government may collect additional data from local authority published strategies, including on individual authorities, based on a risk-based approach in keeping with its role as steward of the financial system.

Local authorities do not routinely report financial losses of any sort directly to Government. Instead, each local authority manages their financial position at the local level.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Coronavirus
Tuesday 5th May 2020

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 2 April (HL2957), whether the Planning Inspectorate will accept Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project applications, including those for Sizewell C nuclear plant, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

The Planning Inspectorate is continuing to receive applications for Development Consent Orders for nationally significant infrastructure projects, notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic. The Inspectorate has published guidance on how it will continue to carry out its duties under the Planning Act 2008 in respect of Development Consent Order applications. We are encouraging developers to consider pragmatic ways of adhering to the requirements on them in these exceptional circumstances to support the continuation of decision-making.

The application for the Sizewell C proposals is due to be submitted in May 2020. When an application is received the Planning Inspectorate have a period of up to 28 days to decide whether or not the application meets the satisfactory standards required to be accepted for examination.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Coronavirus
Thursday 2nd April 2020

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to postpone the commencement of any new public inquiry into planning applications until constraints imposed in the UK as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted.

Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist

Following the Prime Minister's announcement on 23 March of further measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus the Planning Inspectorate issued immediate guidance stating that public inquiries into planning applications will not be taking place until the situation changes.

MHCLG and the Inspectorate are currently working together to explore whether it is feasible to utilise technological solutions to enable any inquiries to proceed whilst ensuring fairness for all parties, especially third parties, given that these are public events.


Written Question
Community Infrastructure Levy
Thursday 23rd May 2019

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 14 May (HL15404), how many new homes were constructed, whether as new-builds or by conversion of existing non-domestic buildings, in 2017–18 in each of the local authorities using a Community Industrial Levy.

Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Annual housing supply in England amounted to 222,190 net additional dwellings in 2017-18, up 2 per cent on 2016-17 and the highest level since 2007-08. Net additional dwellings includes new build, change of use (non-domestic to residential), conversions (houses to flats), other gains and losses, offset by demolitions. Attached Table 1 shows that the 148 Local Authority Districts in England, using a Community Infrastructure Levy in 2017-18, accounted for 112,820 net additional dwellings, of which 98,662 were new builds and 15,758 were change of use.


Written Question
Community Infrastructure Levy
Tuesday 14th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which local authorities in England make use of the Community Infrastructure Levy; and what is the latest annual revenue for each local authority from that charge.

Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

There are currently 161 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charging authorities in England. Of these, 151 charging authorities were obliged to report on revenues for 2017-18. (Ten authorities started charging CIL during the reporting year and will report their first CIL data in 2018/19).

The 151 authorities reporting in 2017/18 comprised of 148 Local Authorities 1 National Park,1 Mayoral Development Corporation in London (London Legacy Development Corporation) and the Mayor of London (MCIL) which is accounted for separately

The MCIL revenue broken down by borough is published on the Mayor of London website https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/mcil_annual_receipt_update_2012-2018.pdf

The revenue for each charging authority is listed below

The latest reported data for CIL Charging Authorities

CIL Charging Authorities

2017-18

Babergh

£514,446.85

Barnet

£11,215,000.00

Basingstoke & Deane

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Bassetlaw

£734,775.37

Bath & North-East Somerset

£5,080,557.07

Bedford

£3,203,351.91

Birmingham

£2,207,929.60

Bournemouth BC

£992,707.37

Bracknell Forest

£4,366,101.09

Bradford

£0.00

Brent

£28,890,719.27

Bristol

£3,736,616.37

Broadland

£1,778,525.41

Cannock Chase

£211,434.00

Chelmsford

£4,796,444.11

Cheltenham

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Cheshire East

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Cheshire West & Chester

£0.00

Chesterfield

£718,070.00

Chichester DC

£2,852,376.37

Chorley

£1,810,580.84

Christchurch

£130,626.00

City of London

£5,109,817.89

Cornwall

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Crawley

£80,605.40

Croydon

£10,389,000.00

Dacorum

£1,020,632.72

Dartford

£915,999.00

Daventry DC

£989,653.96

Dudley

£78,936.09

East Cambridgeshire

£2,718,931.00

East Devon

£396,086.35

East Dorset

£114,135.67

East Hampshire

£999,755.01

Eastbourne BC

£57,807.65

Elmbridge

£5,963,000.00

Enfield

£502,861.61

Epsom & Ewell

Exeter

£6,510,742.00

Fareham

£1,764,562.00

Gateshead

£34,009.23

Gedling

£417,212.34

Gloucester City

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Gosport BC

£85,054.03

Hambleton DC

£838,404.32

Hammersmith & Fulham

£2,707,031.27

Haringey

£1,887,688.21

Harrow

£4,685,689.00

Havant

£1,517,620.13

Hertsmere

£1,913,203.51

Hillingdon

£3,636,863.00

Horsham

£28,822.51

Hull (Kingston-Upon-Hull)

£0.00

Huntingdonshire

£6,173,921.25

Islington

£8,247,191.50

Kings Lynn & West Norfolk

£116,052.00

Kingston-Upon-Thames, LB

£504,983.04

Lambeth

£2,786,078.10

LB Barking and Dagenham

£829,421.19

LB Bexley

£1,918,210.06

LB Camden

£1,130,005.00

LB Greenwich

£2,756,431.28

LB Hackney

£9,885,003.57

LB Hounslow

£3,847,417.73

LB Kensington & Chelsea

£4,948,148.00

LB Southwark

LB Tower Hamlets

£13,991,577.67

Leeds

£4,151,410.86

Lewes

£2,667,782.93

Lewisham

£3,359,091.04

Lichfield

£286,797.04

Lincoln City

£0.00

London Legacy Development Corporation

£2,805,206.62

Maidstone

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Malvern Hills

£522,456.00

Merton

£2,613,369.66

Mid Suffolk

£767,976.72

Mole Valley

£456,465.21

New Forest DC

£1,084,989.09

Newark & Sherwood

£543,708.74

Newcastle

£3,204,857.00

Newham

£7,225,689.17

North Kestevan

£0.00

North Somerset

£0.00

North Tyneside

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Northampton

£0.00

Norwich

£793,805.00

Oxford

£4,995,586.00

Peterborough City Council

£496,541.93

Plymouth

£1,347,113.86

Poole

£3,583,593.38

Portsmouth

£2,040,791.00

Preston

£4,671,592.50

Purbeck

£383,100.82

Reading BC

£4,452,136.82

Redbridge

£490,656.47

Reigate & Banstead

£965,418.45

Richmond-Upon-Thames

£2,392,107.00

Rother

£406,111.36

Rotherham

£0.00

Rutland County Council DC

£265,730.00

Ryedale DC

£57,176.66

Sandwell

£224,433.20

Sedgemoor BC

£470,567.34

Selby

£478,243.31

Sevenoaks

£3,064,576.85

Sheffield

£3,634,677.16

Shepway ( Folkestone and Hythe)

£25,689.00

Shropshire

£8,159,345.15

Solihull

£872,794.00

South Downs NP

£197,481.49

South Gloucestershire

£2,051,165.87

South Lakeland

£160,805.60

South Norfolk

£1,691,906.60

South Northamptonshire

£366,112.00

South Oxfordshire

£2,190,161.72

South Ribble

553,388.00

South Somerset

£0.00

Southampton

£4,659,899.27

Southend-On-Sea Borough Council

£300,390.86

Spelthorne BC

£1,155,129.31

Stratford-On-Avon

£0.00

Stroud

£26,608.47

Suffolk Coastal

£2,263,573.95

Surrey Heath

£4,999,872.77

Sutton

£1,736,709.92

Swindon

£735,431.08

Tamworth

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Tandridge

£1,092,244.45

Taunton Deane

£1,020,799.29

Teignbridge

£2,105,061.00

Test Valley

£405,863.44

Tewkesbury

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Three Rivers BC

£1,623,639.07

Torbay

£180.00

Trafford

£1,067,425.22

Vale of White Horse

£70,014.12

Wakefield

£1,277,009.58

Waltham Forest

£6,706,177.45

Wandsworth

£24,919,139.00

Warwick

£0.00

Watford BC

£762,986.63

Waveney

£669,315.87

Waverley

First revenue will be reported in 2018/19

Wealden

£4,798,864.04

West Berkshire BC

£1,678,294.15

West Dorset

£246,320.40

West Lancashire

£2,257,038.00

West Lindsay

£0.00

Westminster

£14,998,766.32

Weymouth & Portland

£127,050.08

Wiltshire County Council

£3,779,931.65

Winchester

£2,833,034.00

Windsor & Maidenhead

£823,912.20

Woking BC

£1,280,088.10

Wokingham

£11,231,644.00

Worcester City

£0.00

Worthing

£267,274.53

Wychavon

£745,854.00

Wycombe

£4,513,827.00

Total CIL

£348,100,791.43

MCIL

£108,994,589.00

To note:

1. this information has been gathered by MHCLG from council websites, for monitoring purposes and so the data has not been subject to the full quality assurance required for Government statistics.

2. Where there is no figure for CIL revenue in the table, authorities have yet to report their 2017-18 CIL revenue.


Written Question
Local Government: Property
Wednesday 11th April 2018

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor the risk exposure of local authorities acting as property developers and commercial landlords with the primary aim of generating income, as recommended by the Public Accounts Committee in their report Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities (HC708), published in November 2016.

Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

On 2 February 2018 Government issued updated statutory codes that govern capital investment and financing to ensure that local authorities take investment decisions after careful consideration of risk and proportionality, including the potential benefits. These changes enhance transparency requirements – including requiring authorities to demonstrate how they have ensured those signing off commercial decisions understand the risks and opportunities and require local authorities to demonstrate that the level of debt taken on and risk is proportionate to the size of the authority.

Individual councils are responsible for their compliance with the codes, within a devolved system. Enhanced transparency requirements make it easier for local taxpayers and others to access the information that they need to hold their local council to account. When councils do not meet the statutory requirements for which they are responsible to deliver adequate services or value for money in their local communities, a range of external systems contribute to the maintenance of regularity, propriety and value for money.