Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Snell Excerpts
Monday 22nd July 2019

(4 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call Dr Alan Whitehead. Not here.

Gareth Snell Portrait Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)
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7. What steps he is taking in relation to local authorities that do not have an adopted local plan.

Kit Malthouse Portrait The Minister for Housing (Kit Malthouse)
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Under the current plan-making regime, 37 local authorities have yet to adopt a local plan. Of these, 27 have submitted their draft plan for examination. We continue to monitor progress and offer support where appropriate in all these areas.

Gareth Snell Portrait Gareth Snell
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The Minister’s Department is taking action against only 15 local authorities where no local plan is actively in place. The Department also has an ambitious target of 300,000 homes a year—about 80,000 a year short. What action will he take to ensure that local authorities like Stoke-on-Trent that are failing to get a local plan in place do so quickly, so that they can develop and address this country’s housing need?

Kit Malthouse Portrait Kit Malthouse
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As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, we commenced a formal process of intervention in 15 local authorities to ensure that they fulfil their obligations. I have spent the last 12 months touring the country, exhorting local authorities not only to get a local plan in place, but to do so on a long-term basis so that people can see the kind of decadal-scale planning that is required to get to 300,000 homes a year. If local authorities remain sluggish in producing a plan, as the hon. Gentleman claims his local authority has been—I think that its plan is due for submission in August 2020, which does seem a little tardy—action may be required, beyond just a stiffly-worded letter.