English Devolution
Lord Lansley Excerpts(3 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
My noble friend makes a good point. It is impossible to overstate the importance of having an accountable and transparent process for local government. I mentioned in my opening remarks that it is an absolute scandal that we have found ourselves in the position we have in relation to local government audit, with 1,000 audits outstanding—that is just not good enough. Accountability is absolutely vital. As well as a complete review of local government audit systems, and making sure that we have an audit service for all of local government that is fit for purpose, we will consult on something for mayoral combined areas. I do not know what it will be called, but it will be the equivalent of a local public accounts committee. We think that the work of the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament is helpful and useful, and we will consult with local government on whether a local public accounts committee, along similar lines, would be useful.
Lord Lansley (Con)
My Lords, I remind the House of my declared interest as chair of the Cambridgeshire Development Forum. The Minister will know that I share her enthusiasm for strategic planning, but will she acknowledge that it may be some time before strategic authorities are established, or indeed before some strategic authorities have the necessary capability for strategic planning? In order to maintain momentum, will the Government issue guidance that will enable local planning authorities to go ahead with spatial strategies at a sub-regional level as quickly as possible?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that comment. It is important that we get development moving as quickly as possible. The New Towns Taskforce will make recommendations to government on the best delivery approach when it reports in July next year. The appropriate delivery vehicle will always be place-specific, and we expect development corporations to be used in most cases. Mayors, local authorities and government can establish development corporations, and we look forward to engaging local partners to understand what will be the best delivery approach for them to support future growth. If these need to come forward sooner rather than later, we will work with local areas to make sure that we facilitate that as best as possible.
Building Homes
Lord Lansley Excerpts(4 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Lord Lansley (Con)
My Lords, I remind the House of my declared interest as chair of the Cambridgeshire Development Forum. Indeed, I am glad that the Minister has seen for herself the scale and the quality of the developments taking place in Cambridgeshire. Among those building out on those sites, one of the principal difficulties is that the Section 106 agreements for the delivery of affordable housing are not often able to be supported by contracts with registered providers.
Has the Minister seen the report from the Home Builders Federation today, which says that there are 17,000 such affordable homes that are not contracted for by RPs? Will she respond to that report? The Home Builders Federation is asking for a Written Ministerial Statement that would encourage local planning authorities to use cascade mechanisms under the Section 106 agreements to promote the delivery of those affordable homes. Will she and other Ministers direct Homes England to step in and take over these contracts, and themselves maintain the delivery of affordable homes?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, for that question, because in a housing crisis where we have so many people in need of affordable homes, it has been such a shame that Section 106 homes that could have been funded were unable to be picked up because of the lack of capacity within affordable housing providers.
The Government have been very aware of the problems affecting the sale of Section 106 affordable housing. Alongside the National Planning Policy Framework, Homes England also launched a new clearing service to help unblock the delivery of these homes. This is a great role for Homes England to fulfil. The Government are now calling on all developers with uncontracted Section 106 affordable homes to proactively and pragmatically engage with this new service. We hope that this will be able to unlock some of the stalled Section 106 affordable homes which we know are there, waiting for those families who are desperate for housing. I hope that this service will take things forward.
Housebuilding: Regional Mayors
Lord Lansley Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
The noble Baroness is quite correct: we want to do that. Despite the very difficult Budget round this time, the Secretary of State for my department was able to achieve further funding for affordable homes of £500 million. That brings the total for affordable housing up to £3.1 billion.
Lord Lansley (Con)
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the National Planning Policy Framework will be published before we rise for the Recess? In that, can we return to the question of metro mayors? Through their economic development activity, they are well equipped to add anticipated employment growth into the standard method for calculating future housing need. Will the Government incorporate that additional measure in their calculation?
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for inviting me to Cambridge, which I visited last week. It was a good visit and I am grateful to him. I can commit to publish the NPPF before the House rises for Christmas. I will take his other point back to the department and get the noble Lord a written answer.
Building Homes
Lord Lansley Excerpts(5 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
As a new town girl, what the noble Lord has just said is music to my ears. When my new town was built, it was designed to provide all the infrastructure that families needed in a neighbourhood format, and I absolutely understand the points that he has made.
There is a “delivering community needs” section of the NPPF consultation document which should help communities in practice. The changes proposed would ensure that the planning system supports the increased provision and modernisation of key public services infrastructure such as hospitals, criminal justice facilities and all those aspects. They would also ensure the availability of a sufficient choice of post-16 education and early years places and enable a vision-led approach to be taken to transport planning where residents, local planning authorities and developers work together to set out the vision for how they want places to be, rather than simply projecting forward past trends. Further, they would enable the planning system to do more to support the creation of healthy places. We have had many a discussion in this Chamber about those aspects as well and I think that incorporates some of the points the noble Lord made about gardens and private and public open space to help communities to thrive. I hope that he will look at the consultation and respond to it; that would be really helpful.
Lord Lansley (Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest, as recorded in register, as chair of the Cambridgeshire Development Forum. The Minister will be aware that Cambridgeshire may be an area of particular interest from the point of view of any new towns or development corporation statements. Although we may not be here to see it, it would be very helpful for us to have the opportunity to interact with Ministers on whatever announcement is made tomorrow.
From the point of view of Cambridgeshire, the Minister will recall that during the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act we talked about strategic planning. If the Government are not going to bring into force the joint strategic development strategy provisions of the levelling-up Act but are proposing a new strategic spatial development process, I think Cambridgeshire would be a very good place in which to test those arrangements—I hope the Minister might agree.
This is going to be a plan-led system, so making plans is very important, and I want to check one or two things about the new transitional arrangements. Can those who are making plans now and who have reached Regulation 19 for submission proceed on the basis of the old NPPF? Can those who have not reached that stage proceed as long as they can submit plans for examination by December 2026, but on the basis of the new NPPF? Others who cannot achieve that timetable will have to work to the new plan-making system, which is the one set out in the levelling-up Act. For clarity, I think that therefore means that the new plan-making system needs to be in place as soon as possible next year, and we need to see the regulations come forward for that. I also think it means that national development management policies, which the Government are planning to bring in, will have to be timed to coincide with the new plan-making system and—I hope this will be clear—not be applied to those making their plans and submitting them before December 2026 using the current NPPF. Otherwise, they will simply not make progress; they will wait for NDMPs, and I do not think we want them to be waiting for those.
I want to ask two other questions. The Statement does not refer to skills for construction, which are essential—we have to have the skills. We have to have the Construction Industry Training Board, and the others, making investments in the skills base to potentially build these homes, otherwise it simply will not be possible.
Finally, the budget of Homes England is important, but it is not the only mechanism for delivering affordable and social housing. About £4 billion a year comes from developer contributions; we need to see what the new landscape for developer contributions looks like after the reform of Section 106 and reform of the community infrastructure levy. I hope that the Minister will say that those too will come forward in short order.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, for those points. There were several, but I will try to address them all. First, the new towns task force will work closely with local leaders and communities to make sure that we get the right homes in the right places. I am sorry to say that to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, but it is important. It will work on identifying potential locations within the next 12 months and deliver those large-scale developments as quickly as possible—one hopes, with spades in the ground at some sites by the end of this Parliament. That was my point about new towns; I cannot yet say whether those involved will be looking at Cambridge, but no doubt your Lordships will hear about that in due course.
On the strategic planning issues, our intention is to implement the new plan making system set out in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act from summer or autumn 2025. We anticipate that all current-system plans that are not subject to transitional arrangements will need to be submitted for examination under the existing 2004 Act system no later than December 2026. That, coupled with the transitional arrangements, represents a significant extension of the current system compared to previous proposals. In the transitional system, changes to the housing targets will depend on the stage of the plan. For those at the Regulation 19 stage, we will ask for the numbers to be reviewed. If you have already been through examination, the numbers will stand, but we will ask you to review your plan immediately with the new housing numbers included. Therefore, there are transitional arrangements and then further arrangements.