Housing and Planning Bill

Lord Tope Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tope (LD)]

My Lords, first, I declare my interest as a vice president of the Local Government Association. In the six minutes that I have today I will focus on some of the issues of greatest concern in London and to Londoners. Obviously, many of these issues are of concern in other parts of the country, too, but the housing situation in London is now so acute that in a poll commissioned by London Councils, housing was the top issue for Londoners, whereas it was only the sixth most important issue in other parts of the country. It is certainly a top priority for every London borough council, so we judge this Bill by how likely it is to help Londoners have a decent home and a secure tenure of whatever sort.

I will start by addressing two issues that have had relatively little attention during the progress of the Bill thus far. The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, mentioned one of them, I am pleased to say, in his introduction: the issue of electrical safety. The Bill is an opportunity to bring forward additional measures to protect tenants from safety hazards. Last year the Government introduced important regulations for carbon monoxide and smoke alarms in the private rented sector, and tenants are already protected by regular gas safety checks. Electrical safety is being left behind, as there is no legal requirement to prove to tenants that a property they are moving into is electrically safe. Electrical Safety First has told us that electricity causes 20,000 house fires every year, 350,000 injuries and 70 deaths. The Bill provides the opportunity to introduce mandatory electrical safety checks, and I shall table an amendment to give effect to this—unless the Minister can tell me today that the Government themselves intend to do so.

Another London issue that has received little or no attention in the other place is the new London Land Commission, which is chaired jointly by the Housing Minister and the mayor. It has already published the first ever comprehensive register of public land in London, revealing 40,000 sites across the capital with the capacity to deliver a minimum of 130,000 homes. This Bill is a timely opportunity to give the commission the powers it needs to make this happen—for instance, by giving public bodies a duty to co-operate with it and giving it the right of first refusal when such land is to be sold. Will the Minister tell us in her reply what the Government’s intentions are concerning statutory powers for the London Land Commission?

I am a strong believer in devolving more powers from central government—yes, sometimes to the Mayor of London, of whatever persuasion, when appropriate to his strategic role, but also directly to the London boroughs when that is more appropriate. In considering devolution within London it is even more important to recognise that the role of the mayor in relation to the boroughs will work best if it is that of a partner rather than that of a police officer. I hope that that will be borne in mind when the various planning considerations proposed in the Bill are brought before us.

Other issues of particular concern in London are vacant high-value asset sales, starter homes, the right to buy and so-called “pay to stay”. I echo, but will not repeat, what has already been said and will no doubt be said again later in the debate. The policy of selling high-value assets is of particular concern to my own London borough council in Sutton. Using the best information so far available to it from DCLG officials about how the formula might apply at borough level, it looks very likely that Sutton’s housing revenue account will be unviable within the next decade.

We will no doubt spend some time, too, on the so called “two-for-one” replacement policy to be applied in London. Even if the replacement homes are rented properties and in the same borough as the ones they replace—which, frankly, I think is unlikely—the time lag between sale and completion of a replacement will add both cost and human misery to the additional periods in temporary accommodation that homeless households will face. This makes no sense—until we recognise that this is primarily about taxing local authorities and very little about housing more people. Starter homes are fine but unlikely to make much impact in London, as has already been said, so I hope that the Minister will confirm that councils everywhere will continue to have the flexibility to deliver other affordable housing products as well.

I must leave right to buy, pay to stay and many other important issues to others and to later stages of the Bill. But we have much to do if we are to make the provisions of the Bill both workable and of real benefit to those in housing need in London and throughout the country.