Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the deferred local elections which are expected to take place in May 2021 will be for (1) three, or (2) four, year terms of office.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Section 60(3) of the Coronavirus Act 2020 provides that for elected representatives whose elections scheduled for May 2020 were postponed, their term of office has been extended to May 2021; for those elected in 2021 as a result of the postponement, their term of office will be three years ending in 2024 rather than four years. This will maintain the pre-pandemic electoral cycles. By-elections postponed until May 2021 will be for the remaining term of office for that seat in May 2021.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 3 December (HL10515), what assessment they have made of the extent of the transfer of funding through the New Homes Bonus scheme from (1) poorer local authorities to richer ones, (2) local authorities in the north of England to those in the south of England, and (3) areas where current housing conditions are worse than those where new housing is financially more profitable.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The New Homes Bonus is a housing incentive designed to encourage and reward local authorities and communities for welcoming housing growth in their area. Funding for the Bonus is provided from a top slice of Revenue Support Grant and as such it is included in Core Spending Power (CSP), which is a measure of the overall resources available to local authorities to fund mainstream services. The distributional impacts of CSP are assessed as part of the proposals for the annual local government finance settlement, which are presented to Parliament each year. We will be consulting local government on the future of the New Homes Bonus shortly.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 3 December (HL10511), whether they will now answer the question put, namely which local planning authorities in England have set the Community Infrastructure Levy at zero.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Authorities only adopt the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) if, having undertaken the necessary viability analysis, the rates that can be applied justify doing so. Therefore none of the 163 levy charging authorities in England have set a zero levy rate for all levy liable development in their area.
Charging authorities set out their levy rates, including any zero rates, in a charging schedule which is required to be published on their website. Authorities can set different rates for different zones within their authority, by reference to different intended uses of development, by reference to the intended gross internal area of development, and by reference to the intended number of dwellings or units. Categories are not consistently applied across all authorities, but are developed to reflect local circumstances.
CIL charging authorities are able to exempt categories of development either by explicitly setting zero rates within a charging schedule, or by setting rates which refer to other types of development only (for instance, if a charging schedule were to include rates only for residential development, then retail and office development would be exempt).
Because categories of development to which CIL is applied vary between authorities, and can vary within them, it is not possible to accurately summarise how rates apply across all CIL charging authorities. However, all of the 163 CIL charging authorities have set a levy charge for residential development in at least part of their area.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of their proposal to abolish section 106 agreements on the provision of necessary new community infrastructure in areas where (1) the local authority has set the Community Infrastructure Levy at zero, and (2) such infrastructure is currently funded through such agreements.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Our consultation on the planning reforms proposed in the white paper ‘Planning for the Future’ closed on 29 October. We are now analysing responses, and will be engaging with external practitioners, including local authority representatives, as part of this process. We will publish our conclusions and intentions in due course.
Currently, local authorities can choose whether or not to introduce the Community Infrastructure Levy: 50 per cent of authorities have introduced the Levy. Authorities which charge the Levy can choose what types of development it applies to, depending on viability evidence, and where, within their area, it applies. Authorities who charge the Levy are required to publish their charging schedule on their website, including identifying any areas or types of development for which zero rates apply.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which local planning authorities in England have set the Community Infrastructure Levy at zero.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Our consultation on the planning reforms proposed in the white paper ‘Planning for the Future’ closed on 29 October. We are now analysing responses, and will be engaging with external practitioners, including local authority representatives, as part of this process. We will publish our conclusions and intentions in due course.
Currently, local authorities can choose whether or not to introduce the Community Infrastructure Levy: 50 per cent of authorities have introduced the Levy. Authorities which charge the Levy can choose what types of development it applies to, depending on viability evidence, and where, within their area, it applies. Authorities who charge the Levy are required to publish their charging schedule on their website, including identifying any areas or types of development for which zero rates apply.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the future of the New Homes Bonus scheme.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Since 2011, the New Homes Bonus has rewarded local authorities for housing growth in their area, providing £8.8 billion to local authorities in England in respect of a net increase in housing stock of 1.9 million homes. As part of the Spending Review, the Government has announced that there will be a further round of New Homes Bonus under the existing scheme in 2021/22. However, we are committed to reforming the New Homes Bonus to ensure it is focussed on incentivising homes where they are needed most and we will consult on changes to the Bonus, for 2022/23 onwards, shortly.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Annual Budget Survey November 2020 by the County Councils Network, published on 12 November, in particular the finding that 60 per cent of councils anticipate a "fundamental reduction" in frontline services; and what steps they are taking to prevent this.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Spending Review 2020 confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.5 per cent in cash terms- a real terms increase. This package means local authorities will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and to maintain universal services.
Within their Core Spending Power, councils will have access to an additional £1 billion for social care next year, made up of a £300 million increase to the social care grant and 3 per cent Adult Social Care precept. The additional £1 billion of grant funding announced at SR19 for Adult and Children’s Social Care will be continuing, along with all other existing social care funding including the improved Better Care Fund.
Complementing this is an unprecedented package of support for local authorities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, including measures worth an estimated circa £3 billion of additional support for Covid-19 pressures next year, along with extending the current Sales, Fees and Charges scheme (which refunds 75 per cent of eligible income loss beyond a 5 per cent threshold) into the first three months of 2021-22.
This is on top of the support committed this financial year, including over £7.2 billion for local authorities, even before the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund for those authorities under the highest level of restriction – potentially worth over £200 million a month – announced as part of the Covid-19 Winter Plan. This takes the total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 to over £10 billion.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on agreeing new targets for new housing numbers for each local authority area; and what is the timetable for introducing these targets.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We committed to reviewing the current formula for local housing need at this year’s budget. As under the current system, local housing need will only be the starting point in the process of planning for new homes. Local authorities will still need to consider the constraints they face locally to assess how many homes can be delivered in their areas.
The consultation on changes to the current planning system set out the elements we want to balance when determining local housing need. They include meeting our target of building 300,000 homes, tackling affordability challenges in the places people most want to live, regenerating brownfield sites and renewing and levelling up our towns and cities.
The proposals were out for consultation until 1 October 2020. Following consideration of the consultation responses received, the Government will publish a response in due course. The response will set out any decisions and any associated proposed implementation.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure that existing approved Neighbourhood Plans will (1) relate to, and (2) fit with, the new local plans in their proposed planning system.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is committed to retaining neighbourhood planning as part of the planning system. We intend to publish further details in due course.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 10 November (HL9637), what plans they have to provide direct funding to parish councils to increase the provision of allotments.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government does not have powers to offer direct financial support to parish and town councils, which are funded through a precept collected from within the overall council tax paid by the residents of the parish or town.? Allotment provision is a matter for local authorities, who are best placed to understand and respond to local requirements. I would encourage town and parish councils to work with their principal authorities to ensure that communities can continue to benefit from access to allotments.