Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
No.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the consultation entitled Mobile homes: A fit and proper person test for park home sites.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We are in the final stages of considering the responses to the “Mobile homes: A fit and proper person test for park home sites” consultation and the engagement with key stakeholders.
We expect to publish the response in spring.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to made an assessment of the potential merits of revising the Council Tax Formula Grant to allow compensation for student discounts in respect of Parish and Town Councils.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The majority of funding for Parish and Town Councils is provided through a precept on council tax bills and the Government has no plans to change that arrangement. The precept is calculated based on the Parish or Town Council's assessment of income and expenditure for the following financial year. The funding settlement for principal local authorities takes account of income foregone due to mandatory council tax discounts, including that for full time students.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how combined authorities are assisting his Department in delivering new housing schemes.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Combined authorities enable local authorities to work jointly to take strategic decisions and improve the delivery of statutory functions such as transport, economic development and regeneration in the local area. Combined authority areas with devolution deals can support the delivery of new housing schemes in a number of ways, including, for example, through preparing strategic plans for their area, forming partnerships with the Homes and Communities Agency and committing to increasing house building.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of administering EU Regional Development Funds in each of the (a) last and (b) next five years.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Department for Communities and Local Government took on full responsibility for the administration and management of the European Regional Development Fund from 1 st July 2011.
Administration costs:
| 2011/12 (1st July-31st March) | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | Total |
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Net Expenditure* | £8.18m | £10.58m | £9.28m | £10.18m | £12.58m | £50.8m |
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| *Includes income reimbursed to DCLG by the European Commission |
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This cost is approximately 2% of the EU funding administered - the current benchmark set by the Cabinet Office for grant administration is between 3 and 4%.
DCLG is currently undergoing a review of its resources following the spending review, it would not be appropriate to comment on the potential costs over the next 5 years whilst this review is ongoing.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will impose a moratorium on processing all planning applications submitted by UK Coal Production Ltd until that body has demonstrated it can meet its obligations on restoration and section 106 contributions.
Answered by Nick Boles
Coal extraction is handled through a locally-led planning process and decisions on planning applications are for the relevant mineral planning authority.
Schedule 5 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives mineral planning authorities the power to impose planning conditions on mineral operators to provide for site restoration and aftercare with their application for minerals extraction. In addition the National Planning Policy Framework and planning guidance allows mineral planning authorities to request financial guarantees from applicants to underpin the conditions covering the restoration and aftercare of a site in exceptional circumstances.
New Section 106 agreements are negotiated between the developer and the applicant. Existing legislation allows those entering into the planning obligation to specify the date or dates when any required sum is to be paid to the planning authority. Section 106 planning obligation agreements are legally binding, and the mineral planning authority can enforce any breach of an agreement.