Housing Targets: Planning System

Debate between Dehenna Davison and Wendy Morton

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Westminster Hall

[Wendy Morton]

I am grateful to the Minister for setting out her case. When it comes to housing, I think we all recognise that there are parts of our constituencies where regeneration could really work. Will the Government commit to ensuring sufficient money to remediate brownfield sites, which I believe will be crucial to meeting the housing needs of our local communities?

[Dehenna Davison]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that point. She will know that there are existing funds available for brownfield development. The second round of that fund will be opening up imminently—I am glancing over at my officials and hoping for a nod—[Interruption]—I am getting a nod; excellent—in order for local areas to make the most of that to aid them in their brownfield redevelopment processes as well.

On infrastructure and the pressures on infrastructure, through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill we are looking to create a levy to ensure that infrastructure such as schools, GP surgeries and new roads are provided in a more effective, transparent and efficient manner.

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[Dehenna Davison]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising those concerns about her constituency. I would certainly be willing to sit down with her and discuss this further, although it might be worth me asking my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire instead, given that this sits more closely within her brief.

Back on house building, I said that it is important that we build the numbers, but crucially, and as I think today’s debate has highlighted, it is also about making sure that the homes are being built in the places where they are most needed—the places where people want to live and the places where people want to work. We want these decisions about homes to be driven locally, and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need, and we will set out our approach on planning for housing in due course.

I know I am preaching to the converted when it comes to the need to modernise our planning system, and I think all MPs understand and get that we need a planning regime that is fit for 2022. That was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra), who is no longer in his place, but who spoke about changes in working patterns as a result of the pandemic and how that should be reflected in the planning system. I will certainly raise that point with the Minister for Housing when I see her.

I also understand that Members are frustrated—they are right to be frustrated—that this has been under discussion not just for months, but for years. We need more houses, and that obviously brings with it an obligation on us in Government to be frank and straight with people that building more houses has implications, both positive and sometimes negative. In some places, it will cause tension, and in some places, it will be a source of relief, but it is our job to be willing to have that dialogue, regardless of how difficult it may be. I am not sure that Governments of all colours have always approached these kinds of conversations in the most productive way. The inconvenient truth is that, for the best part of two decades, demand has outstripped the supply of homes.

[Wendy Morton]

I am conscious of time, but very briefly, I think we all understand that we need more homes and more houses, but there is a really important point here about the need to take communities with us and to make sure that the houses are built in the right place, with the right infrastructure ready to support them.

[Dehenna Davison]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her contribution and her passion on this subject, which I know she has spoken about for many, many years.

Through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill—I will talk about it quickly, recognising that I do not have much time left, so that might have to be the last intervention I take—we are planning to simplify the planning system and, in doing so, end outdated practices that slow down community regeneration. My hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey mentioned the amendments on the table, which will be debated in Parliament. I am certainly happy to sit down with him and discuss new clause 21 or recommend that the Minister for Housing does so, if she has not already. I hope that colleagues who have been constructive so far will support the Bill’s overall passage.

If we can get our planning regime right, we can unlock a huge amount of economic growth locally. We want to help local authorities to adopt and implement the best planning approaches for their areas. To achieve that, local authorities will need to be able to better attract and retain planners, as was raised by my hon. Friend, and we want to work further with the sector on that. He was right to highlight that as one of the major challenges facing authorities at the moment.

To incentivise plan production and to ensure that newly produced plans are not undermined, the Government intend to make it clear that authorities do not have to maintain a five-year supply of land for housing where they have an up-to-date plan. As Members would expect, we plan to consult on that. The new measures should have a minimal impact on housing supply, given that newly produced plans will contain up-to-date allocations of land for development, but that will also send a signal that the Government are backing a plan-led approach, provided that those plans are up to date.

I finish by thanking my hon. Friend once again for securing this debate and thanking all Members present for their helpful contributions. I am grateful to him for using this debate to press home the concerns that he and many of his constituents have regarding developments in Sittingbourne and Sheppey. There is no getting around the fact that we are in a difficult economic time. We face headwinds from all angles—energy, inflation and interest rate rises—and those have knock-on implications for everything that the Government do, but to my mind, they only serve to underline the need to build more homes and to give generation rent the chance to become generation buy. That is why we have to stand by our commitment to dramatically ramp up housing supply and our manifesto pledge to build a million new homes within the first term of this Parliament. I will leave it there because the clock is ticking, but I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing this debate today.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dehenna Davison and Wendy Morton

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

What support she is providing to international NGOs based in the UK to help those organisations respond to the covid-19 pandemic.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Wendy Morton)]

Charities and non-governmental organisations are crucial partners for DFID and play a critical role in ensuring UK aid reaches the most vulnerable. We have used schemes such as our rapid response facility to send £45 million of special funding to them. We want them to deliver some of the rest of the UK’s £764 million coronavirus response. Where our charity partners are struggling, we have introduced a special procedure to make sure they remain our partners for the long term.

[Dehenna Davison]

Many happy returns from the residents of Bishop Auckland, Mr Speaker.

Earlier this week, Members from across the House marked World Oceans Day, outlining how we can put nature at the heart of a clean and resilient recovery. Does my hon. Friend agree that Durham University’s transforming energy access initiative will help the deployment of renewable energy sources, as part of the UK’s ambitious climate change targets?

[Wendy Morton]

Increasing the deployment of clean energy is a key part of helping countries build back greener after the covid-19 crisis. DFID’s transforming energy access programme, in which Durham University has played a valuable role, is supporting technology and business model innovations, accelerating access to affordable clean energy. It has already improved energy access for more than 5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. This is the sort of ambition we hope to be able to scale up from April 2021 under the Ayrton fund.