Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce mandatory hedgehog protection measures for new building developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Planning law requires environmental impact and biodiversity net gain assessments to be submitted with all relevant planning applications. These provide information on the existing habitats and species on a proposed development site.
Current planning policy requires that any development proposal protects and enhances the natural environment, while hedgehog highways are endorsed in the National Model Design Code and Planning Practice Guidance as a feature to enable movement between sites.
The legal requirement for 10% biodiversity net gain on developments will encourage more onsite habitats which are conducive to common species like hedgehogs.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what hedgehog surveys have to be undertaken before any new building developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Planning law requires environmental impact and biodiversity net gain assessments to be submitted with all relevant planning applications. These provide information on the existing habitats and species on a proposed development site.
Current planning policy requires that any development proposal protects and enhances the natural environment, while hedgehog highways are endorsed in the National Model Design Code and Planning Practice Guidance as a feature to enable movement between sites.
The legal requirement for 10% biodiversity net gain on developments will encourage more onsite habitats which are conducive to common species like hedgehogs.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they decided to establish Southampton as a freeport whether they had any discussions with AB Ports regarding the powers and charges of Harbour Revision Orders relating to users of the harbour waters.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Freeports were selected through an open and transparent process based on consideration of the criteria in the Freeports Bidding Prospectus [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freeports-bidding-prospectus] and in accordance with the Freeports Decision-Making Note [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freeports-bidding-prospectus/english-freeports-selection-decision-making-note].
Harbour Revision Orders (HRO) (which is a devolved process handled by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for English ports) can be used to alter a range of port powers. Any initial discussions regarding a possible HRO would take place with the MMO initially, with other departments only becoming involved at the consultation stage of the order.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Greenhalgh on 5 January (HL Deb, col 567) that "an announcement will be happening very soon" regarding £3.5 billion being made available for replacing the cladding on buildings over 18 metres, when will (1) applications be invited, and (2) payments start to be processed.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
To make sure that every remaining dangerous high-rise building has the necessary cladding remediation to make it safe, we will open up the next phase of the Building Safety Fund early this year and focus relentlessly on making sure it is risk driven and delivered more quickly.