Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with housing developers on (a) the use of hedgehog-friendly fencing with new-build housing and (b) other potential steps to support hedgehogs in the design of new-build housing.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government strongly welcomes any action by individual developers who wish to provide facilities for hedgehog highways, and the benefits are set out in the Planning Practice Guidance on the Natural Environment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a legal definition of a public house for planning purposes.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, as amended, makes explicit reference to public houses: ‘3 (6) (p) public houses, wine bars and drinking establishments’. Planning permission is always required for the material change of use of a pub.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent landlords evicting tenants that are in receipt of pension credit.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Renters (Reform) Bill had its Second Reading on 23 October and is currently going through its Committee Stage in the House of Commons.
The Bill will abolish Section 21 evictions for all tenants in the private rented sector, including those in receipt of pension credit. This will deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitment and provide security for tenants living in the Private Rented Sector.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has conducted an audit of the number of people who are employed in equality, diversity and inclusion roles by councils in England.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities are independent employers and have a legal responsibility to comply with all relevant employment and equality legislation. Individual authorities must decide how many staff they need to carry out particular functions. Spending decisions including recruitment must be affordable and sensible, ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on taking light pollution into account when considering applications for new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 with local authorities to help reduce light pollution in new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will review the application of the local government formula grant to rural counties.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We take into account the different needs and resources of councils, and account for cost differences in calculating allocations for local authorities. As part of the 2022/23 Local Government Finance Settlement, we increased the Rural Service Delivery Grant to £95 million in recognition of the unique pressures faced by the top 25% of most sparsely populated areas in the country.
In our policy statement on 12 December 2022, we recognised that now is the time for stability for councils. As such we have confirmed that we will not be proceeding with the Review of Relative Needs and Resources or Business Rates Reset during this spending review period.
The Government remains committed to improving the local government finance landscape in the next Parliament.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a new tier of governance accountability for councils, in the context of events such as Grenfell Tower.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The governance model for a local authority in England must be either: the mayor and cabinet; the leader and cabinet; or the committee system. It is for local areas to decide on their governance. Local people can have a say on the authority's governance via a binding referendum in certain circumstances and can petition for a referendum as seen in Bristol, Croydon and Sheffield recently.
Local government is independent of central Government and is accountable to its local electorate. To improve accountability and transparency and help all councils succeed we have launched the Office for Local Government (Oflog).
Where there is evidence that a council is at risk of failing its best value duty, the Secretary of State may use his powers under the Local Government Act 1999 to intervene.
The independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce (2017-2020) was appointed in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy. It supported and challenged the council and provided assurance to Government. This was a substantial non-statutory intervention; and a sign of how seriously Government regarded the situation. The Secretary of State remains committed to supporting the Grenfell community and will continue to work closely with partners including those at the council to bring about lasting change for all those affected.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new duty of care and statutory obligation for people employed in a local authority to cover incidents which result in death.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Local authorities have broad independence to organise their approach in the most appropriate way to serve their local communities and it would be for them, as independent employers, to make decisions on introducing new duties of care. However, although local government is independent of central Government, where there is evidence that a council is at risk of failing its best value duty, the Secretary of State may use his powers under the Local Government Act 1999 to intervene. The independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce (2017-2020) was appointed in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy where it supported and challenged the council and provided assurance to Government.
The Secretary of State remains committed to supporting the Grenfell community and will continue to work closely with partners including those at the council to bring about lasting change for all those affected.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the quality of life of a community factors into consideration of called-in planning applications.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
When reaching a decision on called-in applications, Planning Ministers take into account all relevant planning matters, based on the detailed findings of the independent planning inspector following a public inquiry. Full details of the reasons for each decision are set out in the decision letter.