Queen’s Speech

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I remind the House that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I too congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Morse, on their excellent maiden speeches.

This has been a challenging debate for the Government, partly because of what is not in the gracious Speech, such as local government funding reform, including business rates reform, the Government’s plans for reforming social care, or the plans they may have for greater devolution in England. It is partly also because of what is in the gracious Speech, such as the proposed planning Bill—which has not been properly thought through—and the elections integrity Bill, about which my noble friend Lord Teverson spoke so convincingly.

First, let me acknowledge the important principles behind the building safety Bill and the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill; these are both welcome. I look forward as well to the details of the subsidy control Bill, which should permit local authorities to support key industries, together with the procurement Bill, which could encourage public-private sector working in which social value can be a factor. I welcome, too, plans to widen opportunities for the development of adult skills.

However, I was concerned to hear the Minister say earlier in relation to the private rented sector that a White Paper is planned for the autumn. I had been expecting a renter’s reform Bill, so can the Minister confirm whether this means that the timetable for promised reforms is about to slip significantly?

Moving on to the planning Bill, in his introduction to today’s debate, the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, said that it is about modernising the system to make it quicker, simpler and streamlined. Simplification is always welcome as long as standards are not reduced. However, in simplifying planning procedures, the Government must not reduce local democratic accountability, which is part of the essential process for ensuring high standards. Poor accountability leads to lower standards. The Government know that we have suffered in recent years from a culture that has encouraged poor-quality building. The danger in this Bill is that local planning authorities will not be able to turn down poor-quality developments, which they currently can do. This is not in the public interest. The Government should not be reducing the powers of local planning authorities in the way they are attempting.

The Government are right to want to increase housebuilding but the truth is that this cannot be achieved without a substantial element of new building led by local authorities. New homes, whether for purchase or for rent, must be at prices and rent levels that people on average incomes can afford. We need more social homes to be built—around 100,000 a year for several years—which requires more financial freedoms for local authorities to achieve that. This should be the Government’s priority.

Instead, we are witnessing a boom in house prices caused largely by demand-side subsidies from the Government. The average cost of a new home has now reached £200,000. I submit that this is not the kind of growth the economy needs. Also, despite the need to build more homes, 1.1 million homes granted planning permission in England in the past decade are yet to be built. It is hard to see exactly what problem the Government are trying to solve with their proposed planning Bill. It does not seem to be the planning system that is responsible for not enough homes being built.

There are two other issues on housing. First, more than half of local planning authorities set no requirements for any accessible housing standards, so will the Government create a mandatory baseline for new homes broadly equivalent to the lifetime homes standard or category 2 in the building regulations? This is already the case in London, so why can this policy not be implemented across England?

Secondly, have the Government got their demand forecasts right? I ask because the Office for Statistics Regulation has recently been critical of the Office for National Statistics for its population forecasts, which in some places seem much too high. What is the Government’s response to this conflict of evidence?

Finally, I welcome the proposed levelling-up White Paper, which will set up new policy interventions for poorer areas. I suggest that this should include the role of the private sector in supporting levelling up through the use of the tax system to encourage its investment policies to be directed towards supporting all parts of the country.