Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations his Department has made to the Valuation Office Agency on the effect of planned business rate increases for solar power on the solar industry.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We will look closely at the impacts of the forthcoming revaluation and consult on how to make sure the right support is in place for businesses to adjust to any changes.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 require private landlords to fit safety devices on blinds to ensure children's safety.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Government has already taken steps to protect children, having worked with various sector bodies and lobby groups to revise the European standard EN 13120 (performance and safety requirements for internal blinds). This means all blinds placed on the market, since February 2014, have to display warning labels on the product, as well as on the packaging, and include safety devices to ensure blind cords are kept out of the reach of young children. It also imposes a maximum cord and chain length where there is a likely hood of young children (0-42 months) being present, which includes residential properties and public places like hotels, hospitals, schools, shops, places of worship and nurseries.
Local authorities also have powers, under the Housing Act 2004, to inspect properties and where hazards are identified require the landlord to rectify them.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications for repowering existing onshore wind farms were (a) received and (b) recovered by the Secretary of State in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department does not hold information on planning applications received for repowering onshore wind farms. Neither does it record information on appeals recovered for this case type.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of solar farm planning applications (a) received planning approval and (b) were called in in (i) 2013 and (ii) 2014.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Although the Department routinely collects information from local planning authorities on the numbers of planning applications decided and granted each quarter, the numbers relating to solar farms are not separately identified.
No planning applications were called in for solar farm development in 2013 and one application for solar energy development was called in by the Secretary of State during 2014.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many onshore wind development planning applications that had been considered by local planning authorities were subsequently called in by his Department in each of the five years.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Since January 2010 three applications for onshore wind development have been called in by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The three applications have all been called in during 2014.
All three followed requests by local or neighbouring Members of Parliament to call in the applications.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of solar farm planning applications were approved by local planning authorities in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014 to date.
Answered by Nick Boles
We do not hold aggregated information on planning applications for solar farms in the form requested. However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Renewable Energy Planning Database (RESTATS) includes information on a range of renewable energy projects above 0.01 megawatts, including applications for solar energy developments. The database tracks the progress of potential new projects from inception, through planning, construction and operational stages, and can be accessed at: https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/planning-database.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, in which parliamentary constituency each onshore wind planning application which he has received for determination during this Parliament is located.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
I can confirm that during this Parliament (since May 2010) 50 on shore wind farm planning appeals have been recovered by Ministers.
The information is held by local planning authority, rather than Parliamentary constituency and a table has been placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, what proportion of the anticipated generating capacity of onshore wind projects at appeal stage in the planning system related to applications recovered by him in each month of 2013.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
As I have said in my earlier answer, my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
As at the 1 October 2013, there were 255 onshore wind farm appeals, of which 32 were or have subsequently been recovered.
I can confirm that 17 onshore wind farm appeals were recovered in 2013. This amounts to 6% of the number of onshore wind farm appeals received (280) during that period.
2013 | Appeals Received | Appeals Recovered |
Jan | 23 | 4 |
Feb | 37 | 1 |
Mar | 28 | 2 |
Apr | 19 | 1 |
May | 25 | 1 |
Jun | 27 | 1 |
Jul | 19 | 2 |
Aug | 26 |
|
Sept | 24 | 1 |
Oct | 14 | 3 |
Nov | 17 | 1 |
Dec | 21 |
|
Total | 280 | 17 |
I also refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 9 April 2014, Official Report, Column 12-13WS, which explains the background to the recovery of these planning appeals.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, what proportion of the anticipated generating capacity of onshore wind projects at appeal stage in the planning system on 1 October 2013 related to applications subsequently recovered by him.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
As I have said in my earlier answer, my Department does not centrally hold details of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals.
As at the 1 October 2013, there were 255 onshore wind farm appeals, of which 32 were or have subsequently been recovered.
I can confirm that 17 onshore wind farm appeals were recovered in 2013. This amounts to 6% of the number of onshore wind farm appeals received (280) during that period.
2013 | Appeals Received | Appeals Recovered |
Jan | 23 | 4 |
Feb | 37 | 1 |
Mar | 28 | 2 |
Apr | 19 | 1 |
May | 25 | 1 |
Jun | 27 | 1 |
Jul | 19 | 2 |
Aug | 26 |
|
Sept | 24 | 1 |
Oct | 14 | 3 |
Nov | 17 | 1 |
Dec | 21 |
|
Total | 280 | 17 |
I also refer the hon. Member to the written statement of 9 April 2014, Official Report, Column 12-13WS, which explains the background to the recovery of these planning appeals.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W, on wind power, where within his Department information on the energy capacity of schemes is held.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Wednesday 9 April 2014]
The individual details of each appeal are submitted by the parties within a variety of documents, stored separately on the individual case files.
My Department does not analyse or keep running totals of the generation capacity of wind turbine appeals, and it would incur disproportionate cost to create such information retrospectively. The main consideration in wind turbine appeals is the potential impact of the development on the surrounding area.
Details on renewable energy projects are held on the Department of Energy and Climate Change's Planning Database at: https://restats.decc.gov.uk/cms/planning-database/