Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their White Paper Planning for the Future: planning changes in England in 2020 and future reforms, published on 6 August 2020, what plans they have to safeguard the existing rights of neighbourhood plans to determine land use within their area.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The white paper “Planning for the Future” sets out a package of proposals to secure better outcomes in terms of land for homes, beauty, and environmental quality, as well as processes which give greater certainty and speed for communities, councils and developers. The Government remains committed to neighbourhood planning, and the white paper sets out our intention to retain neighbourhood plans as part of the planning system. The consultation on these proposals is now closed and we will be using the feedback we have received to develop future neighbourhood planning policy.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their White Paper, Planning for the Future: planning changes in England in 2020 and future reforms, published on 6 August 2020, what assessment they have made of the impact of those changes on the viability of the neighbourhood plans process.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The white paper “Planning for the Future” sets out a package of proposals to secure better outcomes in terms of land for homes, beauty, and environmental quality, as well as processes which give greater certainty and speed for communities, councils and developers. The Government remains committed to neighbourhood planning, and the white paper sets out our intention to retain neighbourhood plans as part of the planning system. The consultation on these proposals is now closed and we will be using the feedback we have received to develop future neighbourhood planning policy.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction of National Non Domestic Rates receipts in 2020–21 consequent upon COVID19; and what discussions they have had with the Local Government Association and councils about the impact of that virus on the operation of the Business Rates Retention Scheme and local authority budgets in succeeding years.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is in on-going discussions with local authorities and their representative bodies, including the Local Government Association, to understand the impact that Covid-19 is having on councils’ funding, including non-domestic rating income. As a result of those discussions, we have announced the suspension of the planned reforms to the local government finance system, including the Review of Relative Needs and Resources (the ‘Fair Funding Review’) and the increase to 75% business rates retention. These were due to be introduced in 2020-21 and would have complicated councils’ financial planning at a time when the impact of Covid-19 on present and future business rates income is still uncertain. We have also introduced measures worth over £5 billion to ease the immediate cashflow pressures caused by reductions in local authority revenues. We will continue to work with councils and their representative bodies to understand the on-going impact of the pandemic on councils’ finances and capacity.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent representations they have received about relaxing Permitted Development Rights to allow additional storeys to be built on existing residential buildings; and what is the timetable for any formal public consultation on such a change.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We announced in the policy paper ‘Planning for the Future’ published on 12 March that we will introduce new permitted development rights for building upwards on existing buildings by summer 2020, including to extend residential blocks by up to two storeys and to deliver new and bigger homes. Further information is (attached) available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-for-the-future
The proposals were consulted on as part of the consultation exercise on Planning Reform: supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes. A summary of the responses received and our response is (attached) available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-reform-supporting-the-high-street-and-increasing-the-delivery-of-new-homes
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent representation they have received on making further relaxations to permitted development rights to allow additional storeys to be built on existing residential buildings, and what is the timetable for any formal public consultation on such a change.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We announced in the policy paper ‘Planning for the Future’ published on 12 March that we will introduce new permitted development rights for building upwards on existing buildings by summer 2020, including to extend residential blocks by up to two storeys and to deliver new and bigger homes. Further information is (attached) available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-for-the-future
The proposals were consulted on as part of the consultation exercise on Planning Reform: supporting the high street and increasing the delivery of new homes. A summary of the responses received and our response is (attached) available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-reform-supporting-the-high-street-and-increasing-the-delivery-of-new-homes
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the reduction of National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR) receipts in 2020/21 as a result of COVID-19, and what discussions have they had with the Local Government Association and councils about its impact on the operation of the Business Rates Retention Scheme and local authority budgets in succeeding years.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is working with local councils to understand the impact that Covid-19 is having on their finances and capacity. We have now made £3.2 billion available to local authorities so they can address any pressures they are facing. This is in addition to measures to ease cashflow pressures, including deferring £2.6 billion of payments to government.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number of homes in England that fall within each rating band of Energy Performance Certificates, and (2) the amount by which annual CO2 emissions would be reduced if every home within each rating band were to be improved to the next rating band level.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
(1) The most recent analysis of the number of homes within each Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band that this Department has is the 2016 English Housing Survey which estimated that over 7 million dwellings in England had an energy efficiency rating of A to C, over 15.5 million dwellings were rated C to D and over 1.1 million dwellings were rated F to G.
(2) This Department does not hold any information on the amount by which annual CO2 emissions would be reduced if every home within each rating band were to be improved to the next rating band level. However, the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy estimated that upgrading energy efficiency from an EPC Band E to an EPC Band D reduces energy costs by £380 per year on average.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the annual returns of Local Weights and Measures Authorities enforcement action on Display Energy Certificates for each year for which figures are available as set out in the guidance by the then Department for Communities and Local Government, Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings, published in March 2016.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Department does not currently have plans to publish this information. However, Local Authority Weights and Measures Authorities are responsible for this information and may publish it.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to accelerating the completion of all necessary fire safety remedial work to high rise residential buildings by establishing a scheme for payment from central funds of costs incurred by local authorities who carry out such work on privately owned high rise buildings, pending reimbursement of costs by the building owner.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Where, as part of the enforcement action, local authorities take emergency action themselves to remediate high rise private sector residential building with unsafe ACM cladding then the Housing Act 2004 allows local authorities to recover reasonably incurred expenses, with interest. The Government is committed to supporting local authorities to ensure that such private-sector buildings are remediated, including financial support to take emergency remedial action if that is necessary. Local authorities finding themselves in this position should approach my department to discuss what support may be needed.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the current levels of compliance with the statutory Display Energy Certificate regime are sufficient to meet the legal requirements of the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive as transposed into UK legislation.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Data on Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for buildings occupied by public authorities over a certain size threshold and frequently visited by the public can be found at (attached): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-energy-performance-of-buildings-certificates (Table DEC1)
The Government does not routinely hold or collect data to identify public buildings that are frequently visited by the public. Therefore, we have not made an assessment of the current levels of compliance.