Lord Pickles
Main Page: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
2. What steps he is taking to promote economic growth in rural areas through local authorities.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
Following the rural economy growth review, the Government have committed £165 million to growth in rural communities, including £60 million in small grants to farms, forestry and micro-enterprises and £15 million to promote rural tourism. The Government have also dedicated £530 million for superfast broadband in rural areas.
Neil Carmichael
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the retained business rate provides a great opportunity for district councils to help businesses, building on the success of Gloucestershire county council in investing money in broadband and promoting careers advice throughout the county, and does he also agree that more would be helpful?
Mr Pickles
I congratulate my hon. Friend. Following the agreement on broadband that was reached with the European Commission, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire have been allocated £18.1 million. My hon. Friend has made a good point: this gives councils an opportunity to receive money as a right rather than approaching the Government with a begging bowl.
David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)
What is the Government’s policy on allowing existing businesses in the rural community to expand their premises?
Mr Pickles
Our policy can be seen in the national planning policy framework, and also in local plans. A number of local authorities have pioneered the use of redundant farm buildings. Decisions are made on an entirely local basis.
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)
3. What steps he is taking to support neighbourhood planning.
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
4. What assessment he has made of the rate of change of council tax over the last 15 years.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
Under the Labour Government, council tax more than doubled. Under this coalition Government, we have frozen council tax, delivering a cut of 4.4% in real terms for hard-working families and pensioners.
Andrew Selous
In the last two Parliaments I received many letters from pensioners complaining that their council tax was taking up to a third of their income. Under my right hon. Friend’s policy, I have not received so many letters of that nature. Pensioners and others appreciate the falls in council tax. I thank my right hon. Friend for the fact that, under his policy and the careful stewardship of Central Bedfordshire council and Studham parish council, my own council tax fell this year.
Mr Pickles
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I suspect his experience is shared by other Members, but I have to tell him that the situation is worse than he thought because, even in opposition, Labour is planning to clobber pensioners. My Department has been almost swamped by demands from Labour councils to have the right to be able to tax pensioners on council tax benefit, as they attempted to tax the poor.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
It is possible that in the next financial year more councils, including Conservative-controlled ones, will decide to increase their council tax. Councils are worried that although help has been made available for a council tax freeze, the Government may decide not only not to continue with it beyond 2013, but to withdraw the help made available for previous years, thus creating a black hole in council finances. Will the Secretary of State give a categorical assurance that the money made available in 2013 for the council tax freeze will be made available to councils on a permanent basis?
Mr Pickles
It is in the base. It goes into the base next year, and I can give a guarantee to the extent that I can guarantee anything with regard to financial support for councils, but if the hon. Gentleman is expecting me to project levels of council tax support beyond the millennium—perhaps well into the next millennium— I have to tell him that I cannot do so. It is wholly erroneous to suggest this is just for one year, however.
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
19. On neighbour- hood plans, residents of Coton park, a recently completed urban development in Rugby, are enthusiastically setting about preparing their neighbourhood plan as a front-runner under the new national planning policy framework. However, they have had some concerns about the funding of their work, in particular the costs of holding the referendum. Will the Secretary of State provide some reassurance to my constituents?
Mr Pickles
With regard to the neighbourhood plan, £25,000 is paid out on completion of the process, which will help towards the costs of the referendum.
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
10. What advice he has given to local authorities in respect of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 on the use of surveillance cameras to identify those committing fly-tipping and graffiti offences.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
The Protection of Freedoms Act introduced new measures to stop the abuse of surveillance by town halls, delivering on promises made, as I am sure my hon. Friend will remember, by both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats before the general election. Surveillance is now restricted to serious crimes and requires a magistrate’s warrant. Guidance has been produced by the Home Office.
Sir Bob Russell
Could the Secretary of State advise us on how local authorities can best tackle fly-tipping and graffiti offences which, in the eyes of many people, are serious antisocial offences that cause nuisance to neighbourhoods?
Mr Pickles
My hon. Friend raises an important point. If graffiti and fly-tipping are so serious, his council can go to a magistrates court and obtain a warrant so that surveillance can take place; otherwise they would have to pursue the normal process of dealing with fly-tipping and graffiti.
Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)
11. What steps his Department is taking to support community pubs.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
14. What steps he is taking to stop inappropriate development on the green belt.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
The Government attach great importance to the green belt, which prevents urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open. Subject to the strategic environmental assessments, we are abolishing the last Government’s top-down regional strategies, which threatened the green belt in 30 towns and cities across the country. In addition, our new planning guidance on Traveller sites makes it clear that such sites, whether temporary or permanent, are inappropriate development on the green belt.
Mr Nuttall
Villagers in Affetside in my constituency are worried that their concerns about a proposal to erect a 113-foot-high wind turbine in their village may not be listened to. Can my right hon. Friend give them, and others in a similar position who are facing the imposition of these giant wind turbines within the green belt, any further reassurance?
Mr Pickles
My hon. Friend raises an important point, and of course his constituents will be listened to. It is immensely important, though, to understand the wise words uttered by the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles), a few moments ago. Planning is essentially a plan-based operation, and we look to local planning authorities to determine where a wind farm or a single turbine might go and, in particular, where they might not. If they do that, I think that my hon. Friend’s constituents will feel much more relaxed about the issue.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
Developers in my constituency tell me that they can make far more money building on the green belt than on brownfield sites. Is not the reality that decontamination of brownfield sites in boroughs such as Sefton is needed to protect the green belt and boost the economy?
Mr Pickles
This is a continuation of a question that the hon. Gentleman asked me in the Select Committee. The truth is that we are making money available to ensure that contaminated brownfield sites can be dealt with. He is making an enormous mistake in suggesting that all brownfield sites are undevelopable; that is entirely wrong. Some brownfield sites are green and some greenfield sites are brown.
Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
What overall impact does the Secretary of State estimate that the Growth and Infrastructure Bill will have on the green belt given the national planning policy framework that is now in place?
Mr Pickles
The green belt remains very safe and sound in coalition care. The position is clearly laid out in the national planning policy framework, and the Bill does not affect the green belt one iota.
Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)
15. What estimate he has made of the amount of open land required for house building in the next 20 years; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
While the irony of your earlier remarks sinks in, Mr Speaker, I will inform the House, ahead of Wednesday’s local government settlement, that it is clear that every part of the public sector needs to do its bit to pay off Labour’s deficit. My Department is cutting its running costs by 44% and will shortly publish best-practice guidance for councils on how they, too, can make sensible savings. A written statement published today outlines how Sir Ken Knight will undertake a review into savings in the fire and rescue service, protecting front-line fire engines and fire stations, but cutting waste, inefficiency and out-of-date practices. Finally, the pop-up shop, which opened in my Department today, shows how councils can use their property assets to better effect, both to support small firms and to save taxpayers’ money. Truly—Napoleon was right—we are a nation of shopkeepers.
Mrs Hodgson
Could the Secretary of State tell the House why the Government are holding back £300 million- worth of early intervention funding over the next two years? If, as rumoured, it is for payment by results, how does he expect cash-strapped councils to be able to afford the vital prevention and early intervention work and programmes when they have to manage a cut of more than 40% in budgets over the lifetime of this Parliament?
Mr Pickles
I will make a statement covering this issue on Wednesday. The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is important to understand that part of the settlement has meant the rolling up of a number of previously ring-fenced grants. This one has been retained. The money that has been held back will be applied to local authorities. I can tell the hon. Lady that her figure is not entirely right; I think she might be pleased by the settlement.
Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)
T5. Research has shown that trade unions receive a subsidy of £113 million at taxpayers’ expense. We all believe in trade unions and think that they are a force for good, but does my right hon. Friend agree that local taxpayers will be surprised to hear that their council tax is subsidising trade union activity in local authorities?
Mr Pickles
I am glad that my hon. Friend is a massive fan of trade unions. Indeed, I believe that the trade union movement has done many marvellous things for this country. One thing that has been great is its independence from employers, and I am desperately worried that the taxpayers’ money that is subsidising trade unions might impinge on that independence. I will shortly be issuing guidance to local authorities about how we might strengthen trade unions by removing some of their funding.
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)
How many people who go out to work of a morning does the Secretary of State estimate will see their council tax rise next April because he has decided that people on low earnings should pay more council tax?
Mr Pickles
The right hon. Gentleman is entirely wrong in his premise. It is his party that says that pensioners should pay. It is his party that is seeking to tax the poor. It is my party and the Liberal Democrats that are offering some support. The right hon. Gentleman had better look after his own party before he comes here and lectures us.
Hilary Benn
The Secretary of State, of course, did not want to answer the question. The answer is that nearly 800,000 people who go out to work every morning face a potential rise in their council tax bill next April, when people who are on the top rate of tax will get a tax cut. If we look at what is happening in his own back yard, Brentwood borough council has just published a case study on its own scheme, which I have here. Under its proposals, a working mum who works more than 24 hours a week could see her council tax bill rise by more than £600 a year. Why is he so hellbent on penalising people who go out to work?
Mr Pickles
That, of course, was before we intervened and offered our process, which will protect people and ensure that nobody has to pay more than 8.5%. What does the right hon. Gentleman say about his own councils, which are looking to make people pay 30% on council tax? He has been singularly neglectful in his duty. He knows that his Government, had they been successful at the last election, would have made £52 million of cuts. So far, he has not accepted a single one of our cuts. The right hon. Gentleman is inconsistent in his consistency.
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)
In answer to Question 1, my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing referred to PopUp Britain and pop-up shops. Was that just a bright idea within his Department, or did he get professional advice from people who are actually in business?
Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)
T3. The Secretary of State is leaving the financial settlement for local government until the last minute, and there is great unfairness among the most deprived councils in the country. For example, in Stoke-on-Trent we are having to pay an extra £130.75 per person because of cuts, whereas in the Secretary of State’s own constituency the sum is £29.40. Will he take that into account in the financial settlement before he finalises it, so that there is fairness for local councils?
Mr Pickles
Of course there will be fairness in the system, but we need to understand that one reason why the hon. Lady’s authority is facing a larger cut than mine is that it receives a much larger amount. I think Labour expects my authority not only to contribute to the pot but to have its entire grant removed, and then it expects us to increase taxation. I remind her that it was Labour that left a number of vulnerable authorities dangling over a cliff edge and the coalition Government who put money into pulling Labour’s irons out of the fire.
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
Villagers in Martley in my constituency are keen to develop their own neighbourhood plan, but the district council has told them that their alternative to a greenfield site might mean that both sites end up being developed. Will the Minister please clarify the situation for my constituents?
Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)
T4. In towns and cities across England, local authorities are being forced to close museums, shut care homes and end library provision, but the Government found £250 million to empty the bins more regularly. What kind of abysmal, philistine, reactionary Government put dustbins above library books?
Mr Pickles
The people who are putting dustbins above those things are people who care about the general service provided to the electorate. The hon. Gentleman is a bit of a luvvie, so no doubt he is looking intensely at the drop in culture, but that is a matter for local decision, and he is wholly wrong. People should look at how an authority can get more money in by exploiting and using its cultural heritage. Frankly, he is just lining up a bunch of luvvies. He should listen a little bit more.
Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
A proposed housing development in Micklethwaite in my constituency was rightly rejected by Bradford council, the appeal was rightly rejected by the planning inspector and that decision was upheld by the Secretary of State. The courts have sent it back to him for redetermination. May I urge him to stick to his guns and reject that unwanted planning application? If he wants to come back to Micklethwaite to reacquaint himself with the area and see how inappropriate the application is, he will be welcomed by local residents.
Mr Pickles
I know Micklethwaite well, but we will consider the matter in a quasi-judicial way. We will ensure that the views of the residents of Micklethwaite and the council are given due weight, and I hope to announce my decision in the near future.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
T7. The Home Secretary recently refused to give me any information about the impact on local services, such as housing and community services, of the ceasing of the restriction on migration from Bulgaria and Romania. Does the Secretary of State have an estimate of how housing and other community services will be affected by that change?
Mr Pickles
As far as I am aware, we have only anecdotal evidence, which is not sufficient for someone of the hon. Gentleman’s stature.
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)
My constituents in Sandbach are furious that the Hind Heath road planning application, for 269 houses on prime agricultural greenfield land, has been granted on appeal. The pressures on road surfaces and infrastructure will be unsustainable, and the decision flies in the face of localism, as the area was not classed for development under the Sandbach town plan. Will the Minister explain how development on such a wholly unsustainable site can be justified and what can be done to ensure that further, similar applications by developers are not granted across my constituency?
Mr Pickles
I think I am more of an undignified twitcher than an ornithologist. Clearly, there is the wildlife directive and we look to ensure the protection of various species, but we have to understand that in the nature of the way that agriculture and the like are changing, the patterns we have seen traditionally among British birds are likely to change in the decades to come. That will be to the benefit of some species and to the detriment of others.
Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)
Ministers have sent out a strong message to London councils that they should not be placing homeless households far outside the capital and away from their community network support and children’s schools. On Friday, however, I met a gentleman in employment who is being placed in Milton Keynes. Will the Minister tell me if it is acceptable for the gentleman to be placed in homeless accommodation and immediately lose his job, and if anyone is in charge?