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Written Question
Local Government Finance: Sussex
Thursday 28th January 2021

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

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 the provisional allocations of the annual government finance settlement for local authorities in Sussex.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Provisional local government finance settlement allocations for local authorities in England in 2021-22 were published on 17 December. The provisional allocations for local authorities in Sussex can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2021-to-2022.

I intend to bring forward a final settlement for debate and a vote in the House shortly.


Written Question
Retail Trade: Coronavirus
Wednesday 27th January 2021

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support (a) high street businesses and (b) community stores during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Government has provided a comprehensive package of support of £200 billion to help businesses that have been affected by Covid-19. This package includes the small business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments.

We are also delivering the £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund to support local authorities with rolling out extra measures to support their business communities and have introduced measures protecting commercial tenants from eviction if they are unable to pay their rent.

The High Street Task Force is also playing a vital role in supporting the recovery of our local economies, through providing intelligence and evidence to support government in its response to the Covid-19 outbreak through the creation of monthly reports, a series of webinars to help support local recovery frameworks, and Covid-specific resources in the High Street Task Force’s online resource library.


Written Question
Economic Growth
Friday 4th December 2020

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote local economic growth in (a) West Sussex and (b) England.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

We are promoting local economic growth in West Sussex through:

  • Over £16 million from the Getting Building Fund via the Coast to Capital LEP.
  • Awarding the Coast to Capital LEP with £292 million over six years through the Local Growth Fund to drive regional development.
  • Selecting Crawley as one of 101 places to develop a Town Deal with Government.

Across England, the Government is supporting local partners to deliver local economic growth through:

  • A new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund for England. This will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery, with £600 million available in 2021/22.
  • Providing £220 million additional UK funding to help local areas prepare over 2021/22 for introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to support our communities to pilot programmes and new approaches.
  • 101 prospective Town Deals across England as part of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund to level up towns and regions across England.
  • Allocating £1 billion of the Towns Fund to support the Future High Streets Fund competition, which aims to renew and reshape town centres and high streets in a way that drives growth and ensures future sustainability.
  • Delivering a minimum of 10 Freeports. Successful bidders will be announced in Spring 2021 and the first Freeports will be designated in late 2021.

Written Question
Local Government: Sussex
Tuesday 1st December 2020

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in Sussex during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

For 2020-21, we have now committed over £7.2 billion for local authorities to fund their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, even before the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund for those authorities under the highest level of restriction – potentially worth over £200 million a month – which was announced as part of the Covid-19 Winter Plan. This is part of an unprecedented package of support for local authorities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, including measures worth an estimated c. £3 billion of additional support next year. This takes the total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 to over £10 billion.

Councils in the Arundel and and South Downs constituency have been allocated over £96 million in funding from Government, including over £53 million in unringfenced funding, and over £13 million from the Contain Outbreak Management Fund.

Looking ahead to next year, Spending Review 2020 provides councils with the funding and stability to support vital social care services and tackle Covid-19. Local authorities will be able to access an additional £2.2 billion in resources to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and maintain universal services. In addition, we are providing over £1.5 billion in unringfenced grant for ongoing Covid-19 pressures and extending support to offset the income losses councils are experiencing.

Provisional allocations for the annual local government finance settlement for local authorities in Sussex will be announced shortly.


Written Question
Derelict Land
Monday 19th October 2020

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support development on brownfield sites.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to prioritise brownfield land for development wherever possible. Local authorities are best placed to assess individual sites: each authority is required to publish a register of its developable brownfield suitable for new homes. My Department will shortly issue a national map of the land identified in these registers. We also provide significant practical support for the take-up of brownfield, such as:

  • The £400 million Brownfield Fund for seven Mayoral Combined Authorities - West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Sheffield City Region, North of Tyne, and Tees Valley - that will enable around 26,000 new homes on brownfield land.
  • The £5 billion Home Building Fund, providing loans for new housing in two ways: the £2 billion long-term fund supports delivery of larger sites, mostly brownfield, through loans for infrastructure and site preparation; the £3 billion short-term loan fund supports small and medium enterprises, custom builders and construction innovators to build housing, including some on brownfield.
  • Revision of Permitted Development and Use Class rules to encourage re-use of previously developed land by allowing two new storeys for new homes on top of purpose-built blocks of flats; new space on top of houses in certain circumstances; and conversion or replacement of disused commercial, industrial and other buildings with residential, if well-designed and sustainably located.
  • The Housing Infrastructure Fund, which has allocated nearly £4.1 billion for provision of infrastructure for housing projects, including some on brownfield.
  • The £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund, to help with provision of roads, schools and other infrastructure for housing schemes, which may include some on brownfield.
  • Land Remediation Relief, which cuts tax for companies cleaning up contaminated land.

Written Question
Property Development: Floods
Monday 5th October 2020

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

What steps his Department is taking to discourage developers from building in areas at risk of flooding.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

There are already strong protections in the National Planning Policy Framework, and we are reviewing this to ensure that future development will be safe from floods. The review will assess whether current protections in national planning policy are enough and consider options for further reform.


Written Question
Lighting
Tuesday 22nd September 2020

Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department will take to strengthen the protections against light pollution in the forthcoming reforms to the planning system.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light. The Framework is supported by our planning guidance, revised in November last year, which sets out how environmental and other impacts of light pollution should be considered in the planning system. Local planning authorities must take the Framework into account when preparing their plans, and its policies - including those on light pollution - also need to be taken into account in making individual planning decisions. The Planning for the Future White Paper includes proposals for strengthening the way that environmental issues are considered through the planning system. These proposals are now being consulted on and the Government is encouraging feedback from individuals and organisations as part of its assessment of the proposed measures.