Building Homes and Renewing Communities

Debate between Angela Rayner and Andrew Pakes

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Angela Rayner]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. He is a champion in knowing and recognising the challenges that his local area faces. We announced £442 million of support for tackling rough sleeping this winter, and that is based on a formula that recognises the challenges that local areas face. I will get my Department to contact him so that he can understand the effect of that, and he can shape what comes forward in his area. He is absolutely right to recognise that the programme has to have settled accommodation as well as intensive wraparound support to help people leave rough sleeping behind. We have to learn the lessons of what happened in Greater Manchester and how it was able to achieve great outcomes for people. As I mentioned in my statement, when I have met people whose lives have been transformed by it, I can understand why the Prime Minister says he wants us to make sure this happens nationally.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab/Co-op)]

One of the most inspiring housing projects I have ever seen is Coin Street, a housing and worker co-operative a few moments’ walk from this House on the banks of the thriving Thames in London. It does not just build houses; it builds homes and communities and gives pride back to working people in the heart of London. The same spirit of pride runs through the Pride in Place funding that Peterborough has received and the ambitions of this Government with devolution. Can my right hon. Friend put on record her support for the co-operative and mutual ideals as part of our devolution agenda, and as part of our mission to rebuild communities in our country?

[Angela Rayner]

I thank my hon. Friend for recognising some of the fantastic work being done by the co-operative movement. Is our Prime Minister the first ever Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister? I do not want to mislead the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I think he might be—he is definitely a Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister and I think he is the first. Coin Street is the type of development that can happen when homes are built with a sense of community. Our Pride in Place work is about rejuvenating our local areas. In Tameside, in my local area, I have seen people going through difficult times. There have been some difficult times for our nation and our country recently, whether because of the covid pandemic, the austerity years or what has been happening locally, but people have come together. Pride in Place has allowed us to look not just at how we can stop the flow of some of the challenges, but at how we can work together as a community to tackle them together, and I am incredibly proud of that work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Angela Rayner and Andrew Pakes

Monday 14th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Angela Rayner)]

May I start by sending my thoughts and prayers to everyone involved in yesterday’s incident at Southend airport?

We remain committed to giving leaseholders greater rights, powers and protections in respect of their homes, and bringing the feudal leasehold system to an end. We have made significant progress, implementing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and, this month, launching a consultation to strengthen leaseholder protections when it comes to charges and services. We are delivering, but we will go further; we will publish a draft leasehold and commonhold Bill later this year. This week, the High Court will hear challenges to some of the enfranchisement reforms in the 2024 Act; we will defend those challenges robustly, and will await the Court’s judgment.

[Andrew Pakes]

I have been contacted by more than 300 residents in Peterborough about problems relating to FirstPort’s leasehold and management service charges. They face unfair charges, a lack of transparency, bad communication and poor services. Residents in, for example, Hammonds Drive and Manor Drive are fed up with getting a second-class service. What is my right hon. Friend doing to help residents in places like Peterborough get the peace of mind and justice that they so deserve?

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this issue. Many Members from across the House have found that too many leaseholders suffer as a result of poor-quality services from managing agents. We are consulting on proposals to strengthen the regulation of managing agents, including a proposal to make minimum professional qualifications mandatory.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Angela Rayner and Andrew Pakes

Wednesday 18th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I gently say to the hon. Member that you do not deliver for Wales by voting against an extra £1.6 billion for public services like Plaid did in the Senedd. We will ensure that we support Wales and Welsh farmers and will continue to do that as a UK Government.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

Q13. In the spending review last week, the Government backed Peterborough with support for our new pool and a sports quarter in the city. That commitment has the power to turn years of campaigning into a reality, but that is not all: the Government have also recently approved the business case for our new station and have given us new police. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that this is just the start and that places like Peterborough that were forgotten for too long by the Conservatives are now at the top of this Labour Government’s agenda?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. I am flanked by the two ladies—the Chancellor and the Home Secretary—who have ensured that those things happen. The Chancellor has guaranteed funding to accelerate projects like Peterborough’s new sports quarter, which will include a new Olympic-sized swimming pool. I can also confirm today that, subject to the business case approval, we will provide nearly £48 million of funding for a new city centre quarter and a refurbished eastern station building.