Lord Stunell
Main Page: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)(13 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)
10. What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of selective licensing areas.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)
The Housing Act 2004 requires local authorities to review the operation of selective licensing designations, and I certainly encourage them to do so. The Department has therefore not carried out an assessment itself of the effectiveness of those areas.
Graham Jones
The main problem with selective licensing, of course, is that it does not deal with stock condition, and we see many properties in selective licensing areas that are squalid. Can the Minister assure local communities that the Government will allow councils to include the most recent decent homes standard as a licence condition?
Andrew Stunell
I know that the hon. Gentleman has been very active on this issue, and I know that he has a meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Local Government next week, at which I am sure he will make that point very strongly. Licensing conditions are matters for local authorities when they draw up their proposals.
Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)
With more than 1 million people living in substandard privately rented accommodation, and with massive front-loaded cuts to council budgets making it harder to tackle slum landlords, the Housing and Local Government Minister is clearly failing in his responsibilities. However, as Henry Ford once said:
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
Will the Minister therefore adopt a more intelligent approach and abandon his laissez-faire attitude to regulation, which is creating a charter for slum landlords, by implementing the light-touch licensing system recommended by the Rugg review, adopted by Labour and welcomed by the National Landlords Association and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents?
Mr Speaker
Order. We are obliged to the hon. Gentleman, but I think we have got the gist of it.
Andrew Stunell
I am happy to tell the House that 14 local authorities have accepted selective licensing areas—they have approved them and put them in place. That is the way to go. Local authorities should have the power and the responsibility to do that; they should not have the obligation to do it.
Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)
11. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of empty homes.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)
We have put in place powerful tools and incentives to support local communities in tackling empty homes. Particularly through the new homes bonus, communities will receive a direct financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use, and, of course, we are investing £100 million in tackling empty homes directly.
Paul Maynard
With more than 2,000 empty homes across the Blackpool and Wyre boroughs covering my constituency, does the Minister agree that tackling the relatively simple issue of filling empty homes in urban areas would reduce pressure on existing greenfield and green belt sites?
Andrew Stunell
I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is a scandal that we have in this country 300,000 homes that have been empty for longer than six months. In Blackpool and Wyre, the number of empty homes actually fell last year, and I want to give credit to the work of Blackpool council’s working group, which is working with other agencies to reduce that number. However, the investment that we will announce later this month will make a big difference to the figures nationally, and, I hope, in his area.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
I draw the House’s attention to my previous declarations of an indirect interest, which are a matter of record.
Although I welcome all attempts to bring empty homes back into use—I saw some excellent examples during the recess of self-help schemes that do just that, including in Leeds and Hull—homelessness and rent have increased, as the Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), admitted over the weekend. It was therefore surprising that his colleague, the Housing and Local Government Minister, wrote to me during the recess to seek my guidance and ideas from Labour’s policy thinking. That was from a man who pointed out that the shadow Minister was going to—
Alison Seabeck
I just thought that that would be an interesting point, Mr Speaker.
Even with the net addition of empty homes being brought back into use, can the Minister tell us when he expects house building under his Government to exceed the 207,000 net additions achieved under Labour in the year before the recession hit?
Andrew Stunell
What I will say is that our investment in social housing, which we announced in the comprehensive spending review with the aim of delivering 150,000 homes, will in fact deliver 170,000 homes. That is a massive success which will increase the stock of social housing above and beyond Labour’s targets.
Mr Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South) (LD)
Will my hon. Friend put pressure on his colleagues in the Ministry of Defence to see how they can bring back the many hundreds—if not thousands—of married quarters that stand empty around the country?
Andrew Stunell
I certainly hear with great sympathy what my hon. Friend says. We could perhaps have a discussion separately on how we can co-operate to deliver that result.
Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)
Could the Minister tell us exactly how many empty homes management orders have been used? As the number is not likely to be very high, does that not suggest that we ought to reform how they are used?
Andrew Stunell
In the five years that empty homes management orders have been in force—they were introduced in 2006—only 46 have been made by local authorities across the country. That contrasts with the 300,000 empty homes, but they are the back-stop. I am happy to say that a lot of good work is done by many local authorities and other agencies to bring homes back into use. I intend to accelerate that process dramatically.
Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
I would like to encourage the Minister to pursue with vigour and enthusiasm the points made by the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard). There are too many empty houses, and if we can get them occupied, there would be a lot less pressure on the open countryside.
Andrew Stunell
That is absolutely true. There has been a substantial failure of the market in bringing many of these homes back into use. That is exactly what our proposals, which are being announced later this month, are intended to address.
Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)
12. What discussions he has had with heritage bodies on his Department’s proposals to reform planning legislation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)
It is not for central Government to assess local plans. Our planning reforms make it clear that it is for local councils to assess their local needs and to plan to meet those needs in a way that reflects local priorities.
Stuart Andrew
I am grateful for that reply. What steps is the Department taking to provide guidance to support investment in brownfield and inner-city locations to generate much needed employment and reduce the damaging impact on the environment caused by developing greenfield sites? Will the Minister also look again at counting windfall sites in the five-year plan?
Andrew Stunell
It is certainly proper for local planning authorities to take into account windfall sites, but it is also necessary for every planning authority to ensure that it has sound evidence-based proposals for housing in particular, as well as for other development. I know that my hon. Friend is particularly concerned about the situation in Leeds, and it is really for Leeds to develop its evidence base so that plans can go forward in a sensible and sustainable way.
Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)
Kirkstall Forge in Leeds West is a brownfield site that has planning permission for 1,000 new homes. However, if they are going to get built, the Department for Transport needs to invest in a new railway station, which, as things currently stand, is on hold. Is there any joined-up thinking in this Government to ensure that such developments get the go-ahead and deliver much needed new homes?
Andrew Stunell
The hon. Lady has made her point, so let me make mine, which is that it is very much for the planning authority approving a development to see what the associated infrastructure should be and how to create the investment force that can deliver it. The new homes bonus will deliver a substantial amount of additional money to Leeds, which can borrow against it in advance to develop the infrastructure that it needs.
Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)
14. What steps he is taking to remove burdens in the planning system.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
T6. Does the Minister agree that we need to keep our high streets healthy and diverse and support independent shops? Will he therefore support the Cambridge amendment 153AKC, tabled by Lord Greaves, to the Localism Bill, which gives local people the power to support their high streets in that way?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)
The health of the high street is a fundamental characteristic of a healthy community and we are strongly promoting that through the national policy planning framework—or the other way around even. We will look hard at the proposals that come from our noble Friends in the Lords and give careful consideration to them.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
It is clear from an earlier answer that the Minister sees the current planning framework as a burden. Is he so blinkered to the concern that his changes could signal the return to the 1980s planning free-for-all, undermining the established sequential test—brownfield, open space—and town centre policies along the way?