Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the National Planning Policy Framework for providing sufficient land for (a) warehouses and (b) other logistical infrastructure.
Answered by Lee Rowley
No.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment of the potential economic merits of a (a) six and (b) four county and city deal for the East Midlands.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
We are committed to ensuring that every part of England that wants a devolution deal will have one by 2030. Our recently announced devolution agreement with the four upper tier authorities of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire covers an area of over two million people who will benefit from a mayor. The directly elected mayor will take important decisions for their area on transport, skills, and housing, with a new long-term investment fund totalling £1.14bn over 30 years. Devolution must be locally-led, rather than top-down. We will be happy to consider other devolution opportunities in the East Midlands where there is local support.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department is providing to councils to meet the cost of achieving carbon zero.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Net Zero Strategy sets out our commitments to enable local areas to deliver net zero. This includes setting clearer expectations on how central and local government interact in the delivery of net zero.
We have published a landing page to help local authorities navigate the large amount of information from all departments and identify initial contact points for officers. In the longer term we have committed to continue working with the local sector towards effective delivery of common goals on the path to net zero
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to make it easier and cheaper for existing leaseholders to extend to 999 years or purchase the freehold.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Under the current system, too many leaseholders find the process for extending their lease or buying their freehold (a process known as enfranchisement) too complex, lacking transparency and prohibitively expensive.
Through our reforms, the length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses). Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium.
We will also reform the process of enfranchisement valuation that leaseholders must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. The Government will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents at 0.1% of the freehold value, and prescribe rates for the calculations at market value. The Government will also introduce an online calculator, further simplifying the process for leaseholders and ensuring standardisation and fairness for all those looking to enfranchise. These changes to the enfranchisement valuation process will result in substantial savings for some leaseholders, particularly those with less than 80 years left on their lease.
Our leasehold reform measures will be translated into law as soon as possible, starting with the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rents) Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 12 May. This Bill will be the first part of major two-part legislation to implement leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament.