Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he provides to local councils to help them secure faster build-out rates from new developments.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The National Planning Policy Framework clearly sets out that local authorities should work proactively with developers to secure developments that improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of their areas. We are taking forward measures to speed up the process of discharging planning conditions, which will help ensure work starts on site quickly once planning permission has been granted. In addition, in their statement on 11 May 2016, the House Builder’s Federation announced steps they would take to improve transparency about build out and help inform both plan making and planning decisions.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support Lancashire County Council in (a) keeping library buildings open and (b) sustaining the function of those buildings as libraries.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities and it is a matter for local authorities to determine how best to provide a comprehensive and efficient public library service to their local community, within available resources.
Lancashire County Council has a Core Spending Power per dwelling of £1321 for 2016-17 rising to £1392 per dwelling by 2019-20.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport, together with the Local Government Association, has set up a Leadership for Libraries Taskforce to help public libraries in England build on good practice and add value for the communities they serve. The Taskforce is currently consulting on the attached document at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/libraries-deliver-ambition-for-publiclibraries-in-england-2016-2021 which sets out the ambition for public libraries in the future. Furthermore, thanks to Government funding, free Wi-Fi is available to 99% of public libraries in England.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Lancashire Enterprise Partnership in progressing Growth Deal projects.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Growth Deal with Government will invest over £250 million across Lancashire.
Good progress has been made to date, with 15 out of the 39 projects in the programme underway, and a further 13 due to commence shortly.
Projects under construction will, amongst other outcomes, support the construction of 850 housing units, create over 2,000 jobs and add over £28 million GVA per annum to the local economy.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provided to Lancashire County Council on the formulation of its service planning areas.
Answered by Marcus Jones
DCLG does not have a record of advice given to Lancashire County Council on the formulation of its service planning areas, or requests for such advice.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage businesses into high street premises in town and city centres.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government has taken action to help high streets thrive through a range of targeted tax breaks, sensible planning changes and measures to ensure fairer parking for motorists. At Budget, we announced the biggest ever cut in business rates in England – worth £6.7 billion over the next five years, cutting business rates for all ratepayers, and meaning 600,000 of the smallest businesses won’t have to pay business rates again
We have also given over £18 million to fund successful initiatives such as “Love Your Local Market” and the “Great British High Street Competition”, and have recently announced a digital pilot programme in Gloucestershire, to support town centres and SMEs to compete in the digital era.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what he weight he plans to give to the views of people living close to the proposed shale gas well at Roseacre and Preston New Road in the process for considering planning appeals by Cuadrilla Resources to build wells at those sites.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
A planning appeal is a quasi-judicial process, and every application needs to be considered on its individual merits, with due process, in light of the relevant material considerations. To avoid prejudicing the decisions, I should not comment further but can reassure my hon. Friend that all relevant issues identified by local people in the current appeals by Cuadrilla Resources will be given very careful consideration.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons he has decided to recover the planning appeals by Caudrilla Resources to build shale gas wells at Roseacre and Preston New Road.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The reasons for the Secretary of State’s decision are set out in his letter to parties. This makes clear that the drilling appeals involve proposals for exploring and developing shale gas which amount to proposals for development of major importance having more than local significance and proposals which raise important or novel issues of development control, and/ or legal difficulties.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on pausing planning applications to build shale gas wells until after the Environment Agency has completed its consultation and published guidance for onshore oil and gas operations in the UK.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
There is no policy to delay the determination of shale gas planning proposals pending the completion of the Environment Agency’s consultation on their updated Onshore Oil and Gas Sector Guidance issued on 26 November.
The Government has in place a comprehensive regulatory framework for shale gas development. As part of this, the Environment Agency’s views on schemes can be taken into account by local planning authorities, or by the Secretary of State where relevant, in the determination of planning proposals for shale gas development.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made in developing enterprise zones at (a) Blackpool Airport and (b) Warton.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Since the Lancashire Enterprise Zone was established in 2012 the Local Enterprise Partnership and UK Trade and Investment have actively promoted the Enterprise Zone as a good place for companies to set up or expand their businesses.
Two companies have also set up on the Enterprise Zone’s other site at Warton, already attracting 25 jobs.
Work has recently started on BAE’s training facility on the Enterprise Zone site in Samlesbury. This is a part of BAE’s national commitment to double the number of apprentices they train bringing important opportunities and skills to the area. The new facility is expected to be completed by September 2016.
An announcement about the Blackpool Airport site will be made in due course.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will ensure that decisions on shale gas well locations are taken by local authorities.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the Local Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This is why our planning guidance encourages Local Minerals Plans, where appropriate, to give clear guidance and criteria for the location and assessment of hydrocarbon extraction within Petroleum Licence Areas. I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statements of 16 September (HCWS201 and HCWS202) which set out the Government’s policy on timely decision-taking on planning applications relating to shale gas extraction.