Housing and Planning Bill

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

Wednesday 4th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Lab)]

My Lords, I rise to speak to Motion L. I am disappointed that the Government rejected my Amendment 109. Government Amendment 109B is but half of my amendment and will be a great disappointment to those working in the rural housing sector, who best understand the need for affordable housing in rural communities. My amendment was designed to ensure that the majority of new affordable housing in those communities which are in developments of 10 units or less and which were developed thanks to Section 106 agreements would be safeguarded. I regret that the amendment before us today simply does not provide that reassurance, but I am glad that the Minister recognises that the particular issues faced by rural areas other than national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty still have to be addressed.

Yesterday, the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Cameron of Dillington, and I were in discussion with the Minister and her officials. Apart from a drafting inconsistency, which could have been amended, the main reason for not putting the wider reference to rural areas in the Bill was that there was no agreement on the definition of “rural areas” and a consultation is necessary. This means that until the consultation has been concluded, and regulations drafted and agreed, developments of 10 units or fewer in settlements with a population of fewer than 3,000 people could be agreed with no affordable housing. This would be truly detrimental to small communities, and I trust that the Government will do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen.

At Second Reading on 26 January, I said I hoped that,

“we will be able to agree on a definition of a rural community which can be supported by the majority of stakeholders and used for housing and other purposes”.—[Official Report, 26/1/16; col. 1198.]

If the Government had acted then by launching a consultation, affordable housing in small Section 106 developments could have been safeguarded by inclusion in the Bill. I regret that that did not happen, but I also regret that I did not diligently pursue the Minister to ensure that it did. But regrets do not bring positive results, so I will move on to the very positive speech by the Minister, which I warmly welcome. I am grateful for her recognition that rural areas have unique housing needs and I look forward to working with her to craft the important consultation on the definition of a rural community and then on the regulations. However, although I do not for one moment doubt the integrity of the Minister, I do not have absolute confidence in the Government to deliver what is needed. I therefore give notice that, if the regulations when they are laid before this House do not meet the needs of rural areas in relation to the provision of affordable housing on Section 106 developments of 10 units or fewer, I will not hesitate in tabling a fatal Motion.

I do not wish to end on an antagonistic note, so I again thank the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, for all that she has done on this issue. The two of us, together with the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Cameron, are in complete agreement about what needs to be done. As ever, it is the machinery of government that gets in the way. However, as a woman whose glass is always half full, I am pleased to support the government amendment that gives us half of what is needed, and I will, on this occasion, diligently pursue the remainder of our objectives.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, I rise to speak in support of Motion B1 in this group and remind the House of my interests as a vice-president of the LGA and a South Somerset district councillor. I note that Amendments 1A, 1B and 1C give a commitment to a taper and that the affirmative procedure will be used, as is only right and proper.

I shall be brief, as all arguments have been fully made previously. However, I have one query and ask the Minister to clarify what the Minister of State in the other place meant yesterday when he said in response to one of his honourable friends:

“As the discount is proportional, the difference in values will be dealt with by the way in which the percentages will work”.—[Official Report, Commons, 03/5/16; col. 63.]

On Motion B1, these Benches support the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, in his wish to ensure that types of home ownership other than the Government’s starter homes programme are available to residents. We fully support the Government in their wish to see an increase in the supply of housing across the country—it is much needed—but we are concerned that there should be a true mix of alternative forms of affordable home ownership. This amendment would go some way towards meeting that requirement.

Finally, I thank the Minister, the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Cameron, and the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, for securing Amendments 10A and 109B on rural exception sites. These are to be welcomed and give some reassurance on the future of rural communities across the country, including national parks and AONBs.

I note that consultation is continuing on what constitutes “rural”; I hope it will be short and productive. Given the discussion we had in this House about the meaning of “rogue” in the context of rogue landlords, I hope we will not go down rabbit holes in defining what is meant by “rural” community.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I speak in support of government Amendment 10A, which safeguards the provision of affordable homes on rural exception sites, as well as Amendment 10B in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, which would add to it. I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing Federation, which represents England’s 1,000 housing associations. As many noble Lords will be aware, housing associations work with local authorities across the country to deliver the homes and services needed by each local community.

The Government have a manifesto commitment to deliver 200,000 starter homes by 2020, which will help many people on to the housing ladder. They have also shown a welcome commitment to shared ownership. However, as the Bill allows developers to deliver starter homes as part of their Section 106 obligations, this puts the supply of all other forms of affordable homes at risk. I welcome the Government’s Amendment 10A, as it allows local authorities to protect rural exception sites, making sure that the housing delivered will be affordable in perpetuity for the local community. It recognises the value that rural exception sites bring to our rural villages.

Unfortunately, however, the rejection of Lords Amendment 9 by the other place puts the much needed delivery of all forms of sub-market rent at risk by undermining local authorities’ power to plan to meet objectively assessed local housing need, as they are required to do by the National Planning Policy Framework. Local authorities should have the freedom to plan for the different tenures that people living in their area might need. In many cases, these will include starter homes, but local people may also need affordable or social rented homes, or homes for shared ownership.

I understand that the Government are not willing to grant this flexibility given their focus on delivering starter homes. Although I stand by my position that local authorities should retain the freedom to plan for all local housing need, I voice my support for Amendment 10B in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, which would enable starter homes to be built while giving local authorities flexibility to deliver other forms of low-cost home ownership products to meet the needs in their area. This would include shared ownership —an affordable way for those on low incomes to own their own home which was originally pioneered by housing associations.

Local authorities know best the housing needs of the people in their areas. They are in the best position to determine the right mix of homes in their areas. This amendment is an elegant way to enable the Government to meet their manifesto commitment to boost home ownership, while giving local authorities some flexibility to serve their communities by planning sensibly for the homes that meet those communities’ needs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Kerslake]

My Lords, I will speak briefly. I welcome the movement by the Minister on this issue, and there has been significant movement during the Bill’s passage through this House, which is entirely to be accepted gratefully. However, I remain fundamentally concerned about the pay-to-stay policy, which is effectively a form of tax collection but done by people who are not tax collectors. The income comes back to the Chancellor and is not reinvested in housing.

It is important to be clear that that the people in question are not on high incomes. Given where the thresholds are, we are talking, in London, about people such as teaching assistants and caretakers, and household incomes, not individual incomes. We will catch a lot of ordinary people on fairly ordinary incomes through this change. That is why I moved the amendment—to get the threshold up—and why I would have supported the amendment to keep the taper at 10p in the pound for those at the lower rate. It is important to be aware that the bulk of the people who will be caught by pay to stay are in the £10,000 bracket. Those who earn over £60,000 number fewer than 40,000.

Therefore, through this measure we are effectively taxing households on slightly higher incomes. I believe strongly that it will be very difficult to implement and that it will cost more than it raises in income in many places. That said, I want to finish on a positive note: there has been movement, so I entirely support my noble friend Lord Best’s decision not to move his amendment.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville]

My Lords, I was going to speak passionately in favour of Motions F1 and H1. There is now no need to do so and I am delighted about that. I very much welcome the taper of 15%, which my colleague and I discussed yesterday with the Minister, but at that stage she was unable to commit to it. I am really pleased that there has been some movement on that. I also very much welcome the move towards accepting that the income limits will be raised in line with the consumer prices index. That is only right, given that everything else in life increases, such as pensions and the minimum and living wages. Therefore this should also increase.

However, I am still somewhat concerned about the costs of administering the so-called pay-to-stay policy. There are costs involved in assessing when tenants have reached the threshold, in assessing how much the tenant should pay in additional rent as they move towards the full market rent, and in collecting this rent. During our discussions with the Minister and her officials this week on the amendment on carbon-compliant homes there was much reference on their part to the cost-effectiveness of carbon compliance and the cost-benefit of such a policy. So we are somewhat surprised to find that there has been no such cost-benefit analysis of the implementation of the high-income tenant policy. There is some concern that the amount collected by the increased rents is likely to be outweighed by the costs involved in implementing the policy. I believe that this House should be concerned about this. Having said that, I welcome the movement by the Minister and the Government on these amendments.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab)]

My Lords, like other noble Lords, I welcome the movement that has been made in this policy area, although, also like other noble Lords, I believe that it has all the hallmarks of an administrative nightmare. I ask the Minister to clarify one thing. In introducing these items she referred to the fact that people on housing benefit would be outwith the policy. I ask again a point I raised on Third Reading. I can see that somebody currently on housing benefit before the application of the policy is easy to spot and would not be assessed, but what is the position with somebody who is brought into the housing benefit regime because of the higher rents that could flow from this policy? Will they be out as well? That would be incredibly convoluted to deal with.