Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the reasons for delays to decisions on planning appeals by the Planning Inspectorate; and what steps he is taking to ensure prompt and timely adjudication on those decisions.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Planning Inspectorate has been focusing their resources on casework with the greatest potential for economic impact and those with greatest community interest: national infrastructure, local plans and appeals requiring a hearing or inquiry before decision. The remaining capacity is used for casework decided by written representations.
The Inspectorate has been implementing actions to maintain performance in the areas currently performing well and to improve end-to-end times for other casework. In the short term those actions are focused around increasing capacity by:
The Inspectorate is also part way through a major investment programme which will support significant improvements to ways of working as well as providing a significantly improved customer experience.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what is the current backlog of appeals awaiting adjudication by the Planning Inspectorate (a) in each region and (b) nationally.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Region | Open Appeals as at 31st August 2021 |
East Midlands | 595 |
East of England | 1,991 |
London | 3,589 |
North East | 172 |
North West | 703 |
South East | 2,762 |
South West | 1,125 |
West Midlands | 768 |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 656 |
No Region Recorded | 67 |
Total | 12,428 |
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to protect people who have signed up to the Help to Buy Scheme from property developers altering completion dates of their building programmes to a date beyond the closure of that scheme; and what assessment he has made of the scale of that issue across the UK.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Homes England have set out deadlines which are 31 October 2022 for customer applications for the scheme, 31December 2022 for practical completion of the house build and 31 March 2023 for the legal completion date. These dates were designed to ensure all transactions have time to complete and provide consumers with the confidence that their purchase would be completed prior to the scheme closing.
Homes England have been clear developers should only take customer orders on properties that can meet these deadlines.
Customers who are not able to use the Help to Buy scheme maybe able to use one of the other government schemes to help them purchase a home. Details of these schemes can be found at https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) capping total costs relating to the remediation of fire safety defects that can be passed on to leaseholders at a percentage of the value of their equity in the property and (b) providing financial support in cases where the original developer has ceased trading and compensation can no longer be recovered through the Defective Premises Act 1972, for buildings under 18 metres in height that have been assessed as a fire risk.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Wherever possible, building owners and industry should make buildings safe without passing on costs to leaseholders and we are introducing new measures that will legally require building owners to prove they have tried all routes to cover costs. The fire risk is lower in buildings under 18 metres and costly remediation work is usually not needed. Where fire risks are identified, they should always be managed proportionately, minimising risk without creating a situation whereby people cannot move or access mortgage finance. The Secretary of State is looking very closely at this issue to make sure that everything possible is being done to support leaseholders. Further detail on the support offer for leaseholders in residential buildings of 11-18 metres will be released when all options have been fully considered.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the costs being passed on to leaseholders for (a) remediation works for fire-safety defects and (b) waking-watch and fire alarm installation in buildings under 18 metres in height that have been independently assessed as being a fire risk.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 81098 on 29 November 2021.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has been made of the potential impact on housing need in rural areas as a result of covid-19 related adjustments to working patterns; what discussions his Department has had with local authorities on the availability of housing in Devon; and what steps the Government is taking to help increase the supply of affordable homes for (a) homeownership and (b) the private and social rented sectors.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The long-term impacts of COVID-19 are still unclear and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is actively monitoring and considering potential effects that the pandemic could have on our policies and programmes, including housing need.
My officials and Homes England engage regularly with places across the country, including Devon, to support them to deliver the homes that their community needs, and would welcome any further discussions with authorities in your region.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the increased costs that local authorities will incur as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
I have engaged closely with councils from across the country, and across different tiers, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. This new allocation is based on our latest and best assessment of the distribution of additional Covid-19 pressures. We have now provided over £3.2 billion to councils in England to support local authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 to allow for the installation of additional floors in converting agricultural buildings for residential use.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Additional floors can be installed when converting an agricultural building to residential use under Class Q of the General Permitted Development Order, where they are within the permitted development right. We therefore have no plans to amend the legislation in this regard.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 to enable a Class Q application to be made in two parts for (a) change of use and (b) building operations.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Class Q permitted development rights, which allow agricultural buildings to change to residential use, provide both for change of use only and for change of use and associated building operations. Where the change of use to a residential dwelling would not be possible without the associated building operations, a local authority should consider the complete proposal when determining whether to grant prior approval.
We therefore have no plans to amend the regulations in this regard.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the (a) social and (b) other effects on rural areas of paragraph 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Local councils are best placed to understand and plan for the housing needs of their area. Where the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies, for example in the absence of a five year supply of deliverable housing sites, decisions will still need to be made in the light of all the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework, including policies that indicate development should be restricted. However, an up-to-date Local Plan, which includes a five year supply of development housing sites, is the best way to manage development in an area.