Housing Needs: Young People

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I am grateful to the hon. Members for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) and for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) for securing the debate.

Housing is an issue that goes to the heart of opportunity for young people. A generation that came of age in the wake of the financial crisis and saw youth services slashed under austerity then had their lives put on pause by the pandemic; now, when they seek to be independent, they face a housing market that is too often still inaccessible.

Young people in the private rented sector spend a higher proportion of their income on rent than any other age group—if they are able to live independently at all, that is. In 2014, 36% of those aged 24 still lived in their family home; by 2024, that had risen to 49%. Thankfully, this Government are treating the issue with the seriousness it deserves. The £39 billion investment in social and affordable housing is the most ambitious in a generation, and planning reforms will unlock growth. Together with the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which was passed by this Labour Government and comes into force next month, it represents not just policy change, but a long-term commitment to rebuilding a housing system that works.

Young people, particularly 25 to 34-year olds, are disproportionately more likely to rent, as is already clear from the debate, so they are highly vulnerable to high housing costs. Regulating rental increases will significantly benefit young people, providing greater housing stability and increasing financial predictability. I often talk about ensuring that, when we build homes, the infrastructure that communities need is in place, and I would like to talk about partnerships in delivery.

In Derby, we have seen at first hand the role that organisations such as the YMCA play in supporting young people into safe, stable housing. The Foundry Point development, opening in the next couple of weeks, is one such example. Once fully developed, it will support young people aged 18 to 30 with 60 affordable, self-contained flats on land that forms part of the Rolls-Royce estate. It is about not just providing a roof, but enabling independence, employment and long-term stability, and it is possible because of the partnership between the YMCA, Homes England, Rolls-Royce, community groups and individuals donating and fundraising to help keep rents affordable. The Minister would be very welcome to come and visit.

With ambitions to deliver 10,000 affordable homes, YMCA and similar organisations will be vital partners in meeting the Government’s housing goals, particularly when it comes to creating genuinely affordable homes for younger people. As such, the Government continuing to engage with charitable providers, so that 100%-affordable housing projects get support, will help to ensure that the needs of young people are sufficiently recognised.

It is clear that this Government are serious about tackling the housing crisis, and about who it is hitting hardest. Government plans are essential, because they are quite literally building the foundations of a housing system that will work for the next generation. We must all play our part to ensure that they succeed. With Derby College Group becoming one of the new construction technical excellence colleges, we are ensuring the skills we need to build those foundations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 13th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that point on behalf of his constituents. We take everybody’s views into account. I know that this will be difficult, but we will be working with all colleagues as we make the process work.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The week before Easter, Derby suffered a terrible incident in which a car was driven into crowds of people on Friar Gate and several people were seriously injured. Will the Minister join me in thanking the emergency services for their response, as well as members of the public who delivered first aid? Will she meet me to discuss how we can strengthen local preparedness and design out risks, not just in Derby but across the country, to help to keep people safe in future?

[Samantha Dixon]

I am so sorry to hear about that terrible incident. I will, of course, meet my hon. Friend. The local resilience forum in Derbyshire has worked really hard to respond to the event; I will work with her and with others across the country on resilience and recovery.

Productivity and Economic Growth: East Midlands

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on securing this important debate. I welcome a debate on productivity and economic growth in the east midlands, because it is a region with extraordinary potential, but for far too long that potential has been under-realised. Nowhere is that more evident than in Derby.

Derby is a city that helped to power the industrial revolution. The River Derwent, which runs through our city, once powered the mills that transformed Britain’s economy. Today, Derby remains at the heart of Britain’s industrial strength. We are home to globally significant engineering and manufacturing industries, from aerospace to rail, with thousands of highly skilled workers who design, build and maintain some of the most advanced technology in the world—technology that is crucial to this Government’s industrial strategy.

For years, however, under Conservative mismanagement, deindustrialisation and chronic under-investment, regional disparities have meant that our region has not fulfilled its potential. Nowhere is that clearer than in transport. The east midlands received a lower level of spending per person than any other region. If our region had received just the UK average across the five years between 2019 and 2024, we would have had an additional £10 billion. That is billions’ worth of missing rail connections and bus services that would have connected people to work, training and opportunities.

We cannot talk about economic growth without discussing investment in the skills that drive productivity. Derby is a city of makers, and we are known for our skilled workforce, but even in Derby it is clear that additional investment in our skills is essential. At the Nuclear Skills Academy, Rolls-Royce and the University of Derby are already delivering 200 apprenticeships a year, but there is so much appetite for good skills to deliver good jobs. I believe that Great British Railways, which will have its headquarters in Derby, can and should be an important vehicle for the skills that we need. We can also see that appetite at Derby’s university technical college, which has specialisms in engineering and life sciences. There were 450 applicants for just 100 places. If we are to deliver what we need and deliver what Team Derby foresees—good jobs, regeneration and skills—we need to ensure that we are investing in our future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

Given the acute need for affordable housing in Bradford, I understand entirely why my hon. Friend continues to press so vigorously for an uplift in the supply of affordable, and particularly social rented, housing in his constituency. I know that he will welcome the fact that, in the coming days, bidding will open for grant funding from our new £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, 60% of which is targeted at social rent. He will also note that the Government are currently consulting on a new national planning policy framework, including on proposals designed to further support the delivery of social and affordable housing, such as setting a national expectation of at least 10% social rent on all new developments.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

12. What mechanisms his Department has put in place to ensure that communities are consulted on the use of Pride in Place funding in Derby North constituency.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

We are very clear that communities should be in the driving seat, which could happen through local people coming together in a neighbourhood board led by an independent chair from the community to develop a plan to invest £20 million in Pride in Place funding over the next decade. However, there is also an expectation on such a board to kick off a much wider conversation with the community and to reach parts of the community that are not normally around the table and are locked out of decisions. That community engagement will be supported by £150,000 for every place to make sure that we are reaching people, speaking to them and making sure that they are at the very heart of this plan.

[Catherine Atkinson]

For me, the most exciting thing about the £20 million of Pride in Place funding for Chaddesden West in my constituency is that local people decide how it is spent. People in Chadd know their community better than anyone. I have already had some great suggestions, including creating opportunities for young people, tackling loneliness for older people and addressing antisocial behaviour in the area. How are the Government ensuring that local voices are heard and acted on?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

My hon. Friend is completely right. Local people in Chaddesden West know what their priorities are and should therefore be in the driving seat. I thank her both for championing Pride in Place and for the work she is doing to make it a success. We have been very clear in the guidance that neighbourhood boards, which are led by the community and are of the community, will be in the driving seat and must be the key decision makers. We are developing toolkits to support community engagement backed by £150,000 of funding so that we can reach out, go on to the estates and go into the neighbourhoods in order to have a conversation with the community to drive the change that they want to see.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

I have already met the hon. Lady and I would be very happy to meet her again.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Hundreds of new homes are being built at the Friar Gate goods yard, originally a 19th-century rail depot. This development is near the city centre, but other housing that was built further out under the Conservatives went up with inadequate transport infrastructure and little thought for public transport. What is being done to ensure that new homes have the transport infrastructure that they need?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I am more than happy to sit down with my hon. Friend and discuss the matter in more detail.

Planning Reform

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

As I have said to other hon. Members in the past, housing targets, under the new standard method we have introduced, will increase in every metro area in the country with the exception of London, which was given a fantastical figure by the previous Government, because they applied the urban uplift—an entirely arbitrary 35%—to every London borough, not just the core centre.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Under the previous Conservative Government, there was significant building in Mickleover in Derby, yet the GP surgery that was promised alongside that development never materialised. Can the Minister outline how the Government’s new clearer planning policies, particularly on where development should take place, will ensure that future growth is genuinely sustainable and properly linked to the delivery of GP provision and other essential services and infrastructure?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I have referenced before the consolidation and strengthening of the provisions in the framework we published last year in terms of the provision of infrastructure, particularly public service infrastructure. It is local plans, primarily, that should address needs and opportunities around infrastructure, and identify what infrastructure is required and how it can be funded and brought forward, but the reforms we are making through the draft framework will make both plan making and decision making clearer and simpler. I am more than happy to sit down with my hon. Friend to discuss the particular challenges she is facing in her constituency.

Pride in Place

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We are investing in rural communities, whether in Somerset or Wiltshire. We have used very clear metrics—we have used deprivation and the community needs index—to focus the programme on the areas that need it the most. We recognise that this is part of a bigger strategy, whether that is giving communities the power to reclaim their high streets, the investment we are trying to do through local government, or, critically, the job we are doing with our regional mayors to fundamentally drive economic prosperity. There is a bigger plan to invest in all parts of the country.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

For years in Derby, we have been pushing for this kind of long-term investment—investment that the fantastic community of Chaddesden richly deserves. It will take time and hard work to recover from the 14 years of neglect that communities like Chaddesden experienced. I would like every Chadd resident with ideas of how they can get the money spent and get involved to contact me. Does the Minister agree that it is key that local people have a say in how that money is spent?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

My hon. Friend is completely right. This is a huge opportunity to bring the community together and for them to be in the driving seat. Therefore, reaching out to all parts of the community is one of the most powerful things that Members of Parliament can do. I have an organising background and this is an organising moment, because it is the ability to bring people—those who are not normally around the table and who cannot normally shape their places—around the table and to give them voice, power and agency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 14th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

Under our proposals in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill for a national scheme of delegation, it will still be local planning authorities that make recommendations and decisions. As the hon. Gentleman will know if he looks at the consultation, all we propose is a two-tier system in which a set of minor applications go to expert local planning officers. A separate tier can go to a planning committee, where the chair of planning and the chief planning officer decide that that is the case. Again, I encourage the hon. Gentleman to respond to the consultation.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

We are seeing massive investment in the regeneration of Derby city centre, including the opening of a new entertainment venue and the reopening of our market hall, which is bursting with small and independent businesses. Regeneration also means ensuring that our city feels safe, welcoming and inclusive. Will the Minister tell us how the Department is working with the Home Office to ensure that our cities and towns are thriving and safe?

[Alex Norris]

My hon. Friend is tempting a Member of Parliament for Nottingham to say something nice about Derby, which is slightly challenging for my prospects when I go home on Thursday. I do recognise the characterisation of the exciting plans ahead for Derby, and I share exactly her point on policing. We can have the most vibrant community possible, but people will not participate unless they feel safe. We are talking with the Home Office, and I would tell my hon. Friend to watch this space.

Churches and Religious Buildings: Communities

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) on securing this important debate.

Our churches and religious buildings are so much more than the stone and bricks and mortar that they are made from, but if their walls and roofs fall down, then what we lose is far greater too. In Derby, we are blessed to have churches, Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu temples and Muslim mosques, and in the middle of our city, we have our cathedral. Next year, it enters its 100th year as a cathedral, although its tower dates back to the 16th century. It is our tallest building at 212 feet—that height is rather firmly imprinted on my memory, having abseiled from the top of it for charity alongside my then nine-year-old. Inside the tower is the oldest ring of bells in the world. The oldest is more than 500 years old, older than the tower itself, and they peal out across the city. At our VE day celebration, there was a commemorative peal that lasted three hours, which was no small feat for the bell ringers, the youngest of whom was 10 years old.

The coming together of people of all ages always strikes me in our churches and religious buildings, and the churches in our city have groups from the little nippers to the university students coming together at St Alkmund’s or the monthly tea for older people at St Peter’s. I had lots of really interesting studies and stats about loneliness and crossing generational divides, but given the three-minute limit I will have to leave those out.

We have heard from many Members, and I am sure we will hear more, that the work done in our churches is so often there to meet the wider need in our communities, with food banks, community cafes and warm spaces such as that at St Philip’s church in Chaddesden, to name just one. Often, it is in our churches and religious buildings where we see examples of humanity at its best and looking after one another. Nearly 80% of Church of England buildings host more than 31,000 social action projects a year, and His Majesty’s Treasury Green Book estimates that for every pound invested in our church buildings, the benefit to communities is over £16.

Our religious buildings are often opened up for wider cultural events as well as social action. At Derby cathedral, people have heard Queen by candlelight. Again, I had a whole list of other events, but Members will have to look them up for themselves. The incredible sound of Derby cathedral choir fills the cathedral most days, giving moments of peace and reflection in busy lives and what feels like an uncertain world.

I would like to give a final example of the work of our church going out beyond their walls. Derby cathedral has a music in schools programme that is currently working with more than 900 children weekly across 17 different schools. To hear their voices fill the cathedral creates moments in time that nourish the soul. Those buildings were built with the knowledge that they would build communities and lift the health, education and culture of Derby and of every part of our country. I would ask that the Minister ensure that all the social good carried out within the bricks and mortar—but which extends so far beyond them—is taken into account when decisions on funding are made.

Parking Regulation

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker), and my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) for the work they have done on this issue.

I am not the only Member to have people stop me in the street or message me to tell me how angry and frustrated they are at having to fork out for penalty charges in circumstances they think are wholly unfair. I have been there myself: as a mum of three, I have had to get my children out of their car seats, pull out the pushchair, unload the bags and try to ensure they do not run out in front of oncoming cars, all to the chorus of one or more children trying to get my attention—the usual juggle. Try finding a working payment machine or downloading an app when you are the only thing standing between children and soft play.

When I read about the case of Rosey Hudson, who was taken to court for nearly £2,000 of unpaid charges because she had not paid within five minutes, I became really keen to raise this issue in Parliament. The cases that have been raised with me have involved not just those caring for young children, but people with mobility issues, and machines not working. One person could not even find a parking space and was still charged.

Unlike Rosey, not everyone feels able to stand up and contest the fines. Many are put off by the threats of legal action and are worried about going to court. Of the 3.8 million private parking tickets issued in just three months last year, 80% were uncontested. When I convened a roundtable with MPs, car parking firms and consumer groups, I was asked what a fair time limit would be, but if a person pays for the time they have parked, there is no loss to the car park, so they should not face penalty charges. I am glad that the time people have to pay has been doubled to 10 minutes, but the only way to have a fair system is to have a statutory code. We want to protect drivers from unfair practices, plain and simple—particularly given that the number of parking tickets issued to motorists has nearly doubled since 2018.

[Lola McEvoy]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the sheer volume of parking tickets could be having an impact on people’s desire to visit our high streets and town centres, as they worry about parking without getting fined?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I completely agree. Firms hand out more than 43,000 parking tickets to motorists every day—one every two seconds. In line with what my hon. Friend said, I acknowledge the important role that private car parking plays, especially in our city and town centres. I want people to shop in our brilliant independent shops, such as those on Sadler Gate. I want people to be able to go to our fantastic restaurants, such as Lorentes, BEAR, the Dining Room and the Bookcafé. I want them to visit Derby theatre and our brand new 3,500-capacity performance venue, Vaillant Live. We need to ensure that when people use private car parks, they do not feel ripped off.

--- Later in debate ---

[Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) and the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) on their excellent speeches.

This is not a marginal issue, but a systemic one. It touches the lives of millions of motorists and contributes to the erosion of our high streets and of public confidence and belief in a fair process. Constituents continue to be harassed, penalised and financially extorted by a private parking industry that has operated largely unchecked for over a decade. In my constituency, I continue to receive complaints about one particular operator, which has become notorious. I am extremely disappointed that it has failed to respond to queries raised by my office. The scandal is that there are many motorists who pay up even when they should not have been issued a fine at all. The companies are known to use intimidatory methods to press people into paying high fines. People pay because they do not want the aggro.

I have a number of stories from constituents, but because time is short, I will share just one. Leila told me that she parked in the Broomhill Excel car park for a hairdressing appointment. There is no coin machine, so people are wholly reliant on the app. On that occasion, the machine did not work, but she kept trying for 17 minutes and eventually the payment went through. She thought nothing of it until she received a letter stating that she was liable to pay a fine of £100. She worried that the payment had not gone through, but she checked her statement and it showed that it had. She therefore confidently appealed, thinking that it was an oversight on Excel’s part. She was aghast to learn that her appeal had been rejected because, per its policy, she was seven minutes late. It erroneously states that there is an alternative payment source; there is not. It is wholly reliant on the app, which was not working at the time.

[Catherine Atkinson]

Some car parking firms still believe that their code of conduct is enough—the code of conduct that they decide and that they police. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need a statutory code of practice so that car parking is straightforward, convenient and fair?

[Abtisam Mohamed]

I agree: the private parking code of practice is not fit for purpose. Will the Minister explain whether the Government will consider reintroducing the official private parking code of practice as soon as possible? Will he also consider the immediate suspension of DVLA data access for any operators found to have engaged in predatory practices or information misuse?

Our constituents cannot continue to face this unjust system. The only winners under the current system are the private parking companies that are profiteering at the expense of the public.