To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Park Homes: Sales
Thursday 15th June 2023

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to the report commissioned by his Department entitled The impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission, published in June 2022.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The report makes four recommendations which require more detailed consideration and further engagement with the sector to fully understand the impact of any change and ensure the long term viability of the sector.

We will publish our response in due course.


Written Question
Park Homes: Complaints
Friday 3rd March 2023

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what means of redress are available to park home residents who have a complaint about the management of a park home site.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

If a site owner breaches any of their obligations set out in the resident’s written agreement, the resident can seek redress through the First Tier Tribunal.

If a park home resident has concerns about the suitability of a site owner to manage a site, or the maintenance and safety of the site, they should contact the relevant local authority.

Residents can get free independent advice about their rights from the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE).


Written Question
Land: Burial
Friday 10th September 2021

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure local authorities make sufficient land available for burials to take place locally.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Decisions on local burial space are for local authorities as they are best placed to understand what is required for their local area. Government would not consider intervening at scale unless evidence suggested burial space became a national issue. In the event of a specific request for intervention from a local authority the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government would work with the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for burial law, to support the local authority as appropriate.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Monday 6th September 2021

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that new housing development plans do not overload with traffic existing roads that are unsuitable for heavy numbers of vehicle movements, such as Giantswood Lane in Congleton.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The Government has set out clear policies in the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure that when assessing sites for development in plans or for specific planning applications, any implications of the development for the transport network (in terms of capacity and congestion) or on highways safety can be cost effectively mitigated to an acceptable degree. All developments that will generate significant amounts of movement should be required to provide a travel plan, and the application should be supported by a transport statement or transport assessment so that the likely effects of the proposal can be assessed. Development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable effect on highway safety, or the residual cumulative effects on the road network would be severe. Ultimately, it is the local planning authority's responsibility to consider whether a scheme or allocation meets these policy tests or whether it does not.


Written Question
Service Charges
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on bringing forward legislation to give freeholders the right to challenge the reasonableness of estate maintenance charges and management fees.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We intend to legislate to ensure that freehold homeowners who pay estate rentcharges have the right to challenge their reasonableness and to go to the tribunal to appoint a new management company if necessary. This is part of a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market and on managed estates. We will bring forward legislation in the upcoming session to set future ground rents to zero. This will be the first part of seminal two-part legislation to implement reforms in this Parliament.


Written Question
Property Development: Infrastructure
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how the proposed new infrastructure levy to replace section 106 agreements will operate.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

In the Planning for the Future White Paper we propose that the existing parallel regimes for securing developer contributions, the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and section 106 planning obligations, are replaced with a new, consolidated ‘Infrastructure Levy’.

The new Levy will raise at least as much value as is currently captured through CIL and section 106. We are exploring a number of different options for setting the Levy, including but not limited to a single national rate. The rate charged will depend on the approach taken. We will assess a number of different options for the setting of the Levy rates, in order to establish optimal approach.

The new Levy will be charged on the final value of a development and will include a value-based minimum threshold below which the levy is not charged, to prevent low viability development becoming unviable.


Written Question
Affordable Housing: Construction
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the proposed planning changes, what steps his Department will take to protect the supply of affordable housing and ensure it is delivered where it is needed.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and has recently confirmed the details of £12.2 billion of investment. This includes a new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme which will be delivered over 5 years from next year (2021-2026), providing up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. This programme represents the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade.

Affordable housing is also delivered through developer contributions in the planning system. The Planning for the Future White Paper, published on 6 August, sets out proposals for reform of the planning system in England. This includes reform of developer contributions and proposes a new nationally-set ‘Infrastructure Levy’, which will be designed to deliver at least as much affordable housing as current arrangements. Under the proposed approach, housing associations and providers of affordable housing will continue to play an important role in delivering affordable housing secured through developer contributions.


Written Question
Towns Fund: Congleton
Wednesday 9th September 2020

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton (a) has benefited to date and (b) will benefit from the Towns Fund.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The £3.6 billion Towns Fund will drive the economic regeneration of towns across England to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth.?As you know, there are currently an initial 101 places developing proposals for Town Deals to benefit from the Towns Fund.?

I am pleased to confirm we have committed to a future competitive round of the Towns Fund. This will allow for more places?like Congleton?to benefit from the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth.?We will publish details of the competition in due course.


Written Question
Reopening High Streets Safely Fund: Congleton
Wednesday 9th September 2020

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton constituency has (a) benefited from to date and (b) will benefit from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Our £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund is playing an important role in getting people back to work, supporting our businesses and helping to reinvigorate our communities. Congleton will benefit from £339,533 that has been made available to Cheshire East Unitary Authority as part of the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund. Already they are using their allocation to enable social distancing in 16 town centres across Cheshire East. They are also delivering a communications campaign for the people of Congleton, ensuring they know about the measures in place to support the safe reopening of their high streets and other commercial areas.


Written Question
Future High Streets Fund: Congleton
Wednesday 9th September 2020

Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton constituency (a) has benefited to date and (b) will benefit from the Future High Streets Fund.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Our high streets and town centres have a crucial role to play in the recovery of local economies and our Towns Fund, which includes up to £1 billion as part of the Future High Streets Fund competition, is key to delivering this.

In line with the Future High Street Fund supplementary guidance, Cheshire East Council were eligible to submit three Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to the fund based on population size. Congleton was not selected by Cheshire East Council at the EOI stage. In due course we will bring forward a competitive round of the Towns Fund and will welcome proposals from local authorities to transform our towns and high streets driving up long term regeneration and economic growth.