Rural Housing Targets

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine; I did it last week and I have done it this week as well, so we are on a roll. It was a pleasure to hear the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) clearly setting the scene in his constituency. The debate is about housing targets in rural areas, and I will set the scene in mine.

The hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) said this is a devolved matter, and it is a devolved matter for Northern Ireland as well. However, it is important that we come along to contribute to the debate and wholeheartedly support the theme the right hon. Member for East Hampshire put forward.

I represent the constituency of Strangford, which is very rural. The issue of housing in rural areas comes up all the time, and I will explain why in my contribution. There have been numerous calls for better housing provision and a better level of housing—in other words, houses that are up to the standards that people want. So I wholeheartedly echo what the right hon. Member for East Hampshire said in his opening comments about housing provision in his constituency.

From private housing to social housing provision, there are real challenges with the number of properties available. That is something that my staff and I witness daily in the office. We have countless—I use that word on purpose—ongoing social housing cases where people in rural areas need to be rehomed, for different reasons, but the stock is not there. That is the issue that all hon. Members have tried to illustrate.

Last month, the Communities Minister back home announced the launch of the housing supply strategy 2024 to 2039, which provides a 15-year framework for the development and delivery of policies and actions needed to meet our housing supply needs. There are a series of challenges that must be addressed, and that will require a collaborative approach from all stages of Government. Again, I want to sow into the debate what we are doing in Northern Ireland, to hopefully support the right hon. Member for East Hampshire and the Minister. The Minister is always constructive in his answers to our questions; we appreciate that very much, and I look forward to his contribution.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is of major importance when it comes to the housing stock, especially in rural areas. The Housing Executive has also released a rural strategy specifically for Northern Ireland. Evidence from the 2016-20 draft rural strategy highlighted successes in the rural housing sector in Northern Ireland. For example, the Housing Executive invested approximately £204.13 million in rural communities, and just under 18% of that was for housing stock. Work commenced on 425 new build social homes in rural areas, helping to address social housing needs and to support the growth of those communities. So there is a strategy, a policy and a way forward, and approximately £82.4 million was invested in the maintenance and improvement of our rural housing stock.

That work highlights the importance of funding our rural areas, which are a massive part of the housing sector, but there is still a long way to go. The social housing lists in my two constituency offices—one in Ballynahinch and one in Newtownards—illustrate that figuratively and statistically. As of June 2023, over 45,000 individuals were on the Housing Executive’s waiting list, with more than 32,000 classified as being in housing stress, indicating an urgent need for accommodation. That is not solely the responsibility of the Housing Executive, as the money we get to fund our Departments and sectors comes from this Government through the block grant. There is more to do to take the immense pressure off families by making housing more affordable, accessible and safe.

The housing backlog comes from an increase in property prices. Some of the greatest house price rises in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have been in Northern Ireland. The standard monthly rental price is between £600 and £700—far above the breadline.

I am conscious of the time, so I will conclude with this point. More needs to be done to preserve and maintain housing stock, and housing prices are hitting a record high, so I look to the Minister for direction on his plans to support the devolved institutions as much as he can. It is always understood that these issues are devolved, but there is a moral responsibility to ensure that no family is left behind, and that our Executive have the support they need from central Government right here.

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[Charlotte Cane (Ely and East Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) on securing the debate. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a district councillor.

Everyone deserves a decent home and should be able to find that home near family, friends and work, but young adults in rural areas do not have that opportunity. The Campaign to Protect Rural England reports that in the five years to March 2023, rural homelessness increased by 40%. From my work as a district councillor, and indeed from my MP casework, I know that much existing rural housing suffers from damp, is poorly insulated and relies on oil or bottled gas for heating.

The Liberal Democrats know that development can benefit rural communities, but only if those communities are fully involved in the decisions about that development. We welcome the priority given to housing. As well as building more houses, we must ensure that they are high-quality homes. The Conservatives let developers get away with building to poor standards and without the GPs, schools and community infrastructure that are so badly needed, especially in rural areas. They also let developers off the hook for leaving land for housing unbuilt and new homes empty.

Liberal Democrats would build 150,000 new social homes to tackle the housing shortage crisis, and give renters a fair deal by immediately banning no-fault evictions and creating a national register of licensed landlords. We welcomed those measures in the Renters’ Rights Bill. We want housing development that is community led, by integrating infrastructure and public services into the planning process. With proper community engagement, local amenities such as GPs, schools and public transport will be built alongside the new homes.

We believe that local authorities should have greater powers to build their own homes and hold developers to account. Local authorities, not central Government, are best placed to know what developments are needed in their area. In my Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency, Bottisham parish council has been exemplary in working with developers to identify sites to deliver affordable housing and maintain a strong sense of a village community.

Land for housing is in limited supply, yet land with planning permission is often banked by developers. The Government must unblock the thousands of permitted homes that are not being built, and allow councils to buy land at current use value, rather than an inflated hoped-for value, so that more social and affordable homes can be built.

None of this housing should come at the expense of our environment. The Government must deliver house building and protect our environment. South Cambridgeshire district council has an excellent record on that, with Cambourne and Trumpington Meadows in Cambridge both delivering housing and open space for wildlife and recreation, in partnership with the local wildlife trust. In my constituency, the development of Waterbeach also has green space at its core.

For the planning process to be run effectively, our local authorities need strong planning departments, which takes money. As well as the Government providing more funding, local authorities should be able to set their own fees, so that they have the capacity to consult appropriately and assess each case fully and promptly.

Finally, houses do not build themselves, and we do not have enough qualified construction workers. Further education colleges need sufficient long-term funding to set up the courses to train those workers, and we need to look at the qualifications required to teach the courses. Some older, experienced construction workers are not eligible to teach because they have older qualifications. We need to review whether their existing qualifications and experience are sufficient, or they can be fast-tracked to achieve the new qualifications, so they can teach the next cohort of bricklayers, plumbers and other construction workers.

[Jim Shannon]

I commend the hon. Lady for bringing up an important point about apprenticeships. In my constituency, where there is a tradition of service in the construction sector, there is a shortage because there is better pay for those outside the sector. Does she agree that if there is to be a change, with maybe a three-year apprenticeship, there needs to be a better pay structure, to incentivise people into the construction sector?

[Charlotte Cane]

I agree with the hon. Member, and we need to look at the salaries for the trainers as well.

We stand ready to support the Government to get more houses built, including in rural areas, but the planning reforms must work with local communities, not cut them out of the process. Local authorities must be resourced and empowered to ensure that developers build the houses, with adequate GPs, schools, shops and other infrastructure, and green space for people and nature at the heart of all developments. We must ensure that most of those houses are the social and truly affordable homes that so many people in rural areas desperately need.