Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Monday 16th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

As the hon. Gentleman appreciates, I cannot comment on a particular planning application, but in a general sense there is a duty for local authorities to co-operate, and they should be working together on these matters. Having a local plan—and even more so a neighbourhood plan—is the most powerful way for a local community to have absolute control over planning decisions in its locality.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department has taken to minimise increases in council tax bills since May 2010.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Monday 15th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about protecting the green belt, which is something that we always seek to do. The Secretary of State and I have outlined some further guidance on that in the past few months to make it clear that building on green belt land is something that we do as a last resort. Indeed, it is one of the exceptional circumstances to be taken into account against development to make sure that we protect our green belt. Obviously, every planning application has to be taken forward and adjudged on its merits by the local authority, planning inspectors and the Department.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that one challenge in bringing forward large-scale housing sites is the failure of local authorities to allocate sufficient land for housing in their local plan? For example, the Labour-controlled Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council has failed to bring forward a local plan, whereas Rugby borough council has had its local plan in place for some time, and has brought forward a site for 6,000 new homes at the Rugby radio site.

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Rugby is an excellent example of a good, well-run council, which seeks to support growth and to provide homes for local people. It is important that local areas, in conjunction with the community, work out their housing need, make provision for it, and take advantage of the £1.5 billion that we are putting in to help unlock those kinds of sites.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Monday 8th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

I am slightly surprised by the hon. Lady’s question, given that under the previous Administration the number of affordable rental homes fell by 420,000 and under this Government, since 2010, we have got about 480,000 new homes built. To be clear, and contradicting something she said, average rents are down in real terms year on year under this Government.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that the way to improve stability and affordability in the private rented sector is for local authorities to make more land available for housing? That is happening in my constituency, where we are delivering new housing at double the rate seen in the country as a whole.

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The affordable homes programme is on track to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes between 2011 and 2015. It is important that we keep on top of that and keep moving forward with the new homes that we need.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Wednesday 12th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

As I said just a few moments ago, 10% of the most deprived areas of the country have an average spending power of £3,026 per household, compared with £1,900 for the least deprived 10% of areas. We must bear that starting point in mind. The most deprived areas have greater spending power. The average reduction in spending power this year is just 2.9%, with no council being more than 6.9% worse off. This is the highest level of protection that we have been able to offer councils in three years.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

The Minister has spoken about councils being able to put a freeze on council tax for a further year. Does he not realise that many councils could see what was coming? It did not take a genius to see that the financial situation in 2010-11 would be difficult. Rugby borough council recognised that, and is now looking at a council tax cut for the coming year.

[Brandon Lewis]

Again, my hon. Friend gives a good example, to which I will be referring in just a moment. Good councils have planned for this and worked for their residents. Not only are they able to freeze the council tax, but in some cases, councils such as Rugby have done the excellent thing and cut council tax.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Wednesday 18th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that enlightened and far-sighted local authorities such as Rugby borough council anticipated several years ago the tough economic environment in which we now find ourselves, and started to put their houses in order at an early stage by taking a hard look at all their items of expenditure?

[Brandon Lewis]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. There are very good councils all over the country which have been streamlining their bureaucracy and administration, sharing management, sharing services, improving their procurement practices, and delivering great front-line services to their residents. They should be warmly thanked for doing great work while also playing an important role in lowering the country’s deficit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

20. What representations he has received on the effectiveness of independent assessments of the performance of local authorities.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)]

My hon. Friend may well know that we have reduced burdensome top-down assessments of the performance of local authorities. We have abolished the unnecessary and invasive comprehensive area assessment, and strengthened local accountability through transparency measures, making councils accountable to the local people who elect them. The recent BBC ICM poll suggests that residents are currently happy with council services.

[Mark Pawsey]

Councils across the country have reason to be grateful to the Secretary of State for getting rid of the costly and bureaucratic comprehensive area assessments, and for replacing them with an optional system of councils inviting local government leaders to conduct a review. In that regard, has the Minister seen the very positive outcome for Conservative-controlled Rugby borough council? Its report was overwhelmingly positive and the leader was described as providing a

“strong and progressive focal point”.

[Brandon Lewis]

Getting rid of comprehensive area assessments has saved the public purse around £28 million a year. On top of that, work going on now means that there is a constructive, involved approach from the sector—opening up and looking more sensibly at what works—rather than a tick-box culture. I am delighted that such a good Conservative authority is showing so highly in the process.

High Streets

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Mark Pawsey

Wednesday 16th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

It was clear on Monday how proud of Bedford the team rightly are. They have done some great work, and it was a wonderful place to visit and to see some of it.

Given the time, I want to make a bit of progress. Some recent research suggests that the vacancy rates on high streets are beginning to plateau, after about 20 years of decline. If that is true, we should celebrate that—and celebrate the great British high street—but we must also look to do more. The coalition Government are committed to helping communities to adapt. We believe that plans and ideas for town centres must come from local areas themselves. It is for councils, businesses and communities to decide what their high streets and town centres will look like. Government cannot and should not look to bail out or prop up ailing high street businesses with taxpayers’ money, nor should we just introduce new taxes—as has been suggested by the Opposition—to create a level playing field of misery. Higher taxes destroy jobs and undermine enterprise. Government must support local people, building skills and spreading best practice.

[Mark Pawsey]

Does the Minister agree that one way in which a community can effectively defend its town centre is to take a more positive attitude towards new housing development, which provides additional consumers for the shops in the centre of town?