Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy that shops, medical centres and other amenities should be provided at the same time as the construction of homes in greenfield developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that significant weight should be placed on the importance of new, expanded or upgraded public service infrastructure when considering proposals for development.
The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies supporting the delivery of new and improved community facilities and public service infrastructure serving new development, setting out that planning conditions and obligations should be used to secure the timely delivery of community facilities and public service infrastructure required to serve new development, so that these facilities are available for use when the development (or an agreed proportion of the development) is first occupied or comes into use.
We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here (attached) and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of places of worship in current plans for large-scale greenfield housing developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of community facilities, such as places of worship. It is for local planning authorities to make decisions on individual development proposals, and the government does not collate information on proposals to provide new places of worship as part of these.
The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies to support the provision of places of worship, including where a development proposal for housing, employment or other development would give rise to significant numbers of additional people living in, working in or visiting an area.
We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 3 November (HL11277), whether the gardens of Leaden Hall fall within the description as part of a nationally significant setting to be protected as defined by the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in the definition of ‘the setting of a heritage asset’ in the National Planning Policy Framework, its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. It is therefore for the decision maker to decide what the setting of a particular heritage asset is when considering a relevant planning application.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 22 October (HL10990), whether "the settings of Heritage Assets" may include views from a distance, and whether the word "assets" by definition alone includes a setting.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The ‘setting of a heritage asset’ is defined in the glossary of the National Planning Policy Framework. National planning policy seeks to protect the significance of a heritage asset which is defined as deriving not only from a heritage asset’s physical presence, but also from its setting.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 23 September (HL10307), what assessment they have made of the protection afforded by the National Planning Policy Framework to the landscape views of Salisbury Cathedral from the water meadows of the River Avon.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The settings of heritage assets are protected through national planning policy. Any harm to, or loss of, the significance of a designated heritage asset, including from development within its setting, requires clear and convincing justification. Substantial harm to or loss of assets of the highest significance, including Grade I listed buildings such as Salisbury Cathedral, should be wholly exceptional.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the protection afforded to views of landscape or of historical note outside London.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that developments are sympathetic to local character and history, including the surrounding built environment and landscape setting. The Framework further sets out that planning policies and decisions should also contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting and enhancing valued landscapes.
Great weight should be given to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty in National Parks, the Broads and National Landscapes which have the highest status of protection in relation to these issues.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect, if any, of levels of street violence, drug dealing and rough sleeping on London’s international reputation and standing as the capital city.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the serious impact that robbery and theft from the person offences have on public safety, both in terms of the harm caused to victims and the wider implications for communities.
Through the Home Offices Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles. This will provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including robbery and theft from the person.
We also recognise that homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.
We are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, grant funding for homelessness services is increasing this year by £233 million compared to last year (2024/25).
As part of the Rough Sleeping Recovery and Prevention Grant (RSPARG) £63,964,330 was allocated across London in 25/26. The RSPARG gives local authorities the flexibility to determine the most suitable rough sleeping services required to meet local need.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to end youth homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to Question UIN 60575 on 24 June 2025.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of building sites in England with planning consent on which construction work was started in the second quarter of 2025; and what percentage this represented of all sites in England with planning permission.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department does not hold the requested information.
On 25 May, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out (which can be found on gov.uk here) inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built.
On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential development, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the government intends bring forward the regulations to implement these measures at the earliest practical opportunity with the new build out reporting framework coming into force from 2026.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 23 January (HL3940), what "factors" they use to assess the productivity of HM Land Registry, and what evidence they have that the hybrid model of working from home and office has "continued to improve" its productivity.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The measure of productivity of HM Land Registry, to which the previous answer referred, is based primarily on the subset of applications to HMLR which request a change to the register, and require manual processing by a caseworker, weighted by their relative complexity, and divided by the number of caseworkers deployed to the task. From 2023 to 2024, a period throughout which hybrid working has been in place, HMLR’s productivity increased by 7.1% During this period, the processing time for the oldest, most complex cases was also reduced by over six months.