Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

Matt Western Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I give way to the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western).

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is being generous. On housing and the constraint of local authorities, in my constituency, we have an over-supply of 4,000, which a previous Housing Minister described as “very ambitious”—in other words, too much development. May I bring him back to the lack of GPs in infrastructure supply through development? Will he make NHS Providers a statutory consultee in any of these developments?

[Michael Gove]

Let me reflect on that in Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Western Excerpts

Monday 16th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

The hon. Lady is right. The reforms are about empowering local communities to develop local plans and engage with the development of those local plans to identify the housing needs of each area. She is right to raise the issue on second homes and Airbnb. As I said to her the other day in the meeting we had, I look forward to potentially hosting a roundtable with her and colleagues around North Yorkshire to address those very issues.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

On the point the Minister was making about developers or planners going back on previous agreements or advice, I have a case in South Leamington, which was consulted on six years ago, where we were to have social and truly affordable housing built on a particular site. As of last week, that has been changed and we will have 80 units with 92 beds in more or less the same space. Will he meet me to discuss that matter and will he explain how the planning changes will ensure communities get what they want, which is truly affordable housing?

[Stuart Andrew]

Of course, I would be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss the issue he raises. The whole point of the Bill is to strengthen the development of local plans in the first place, so local planning authorities can address the housing needs they have in their area, including the types of housing they need; and to strengthen enforcement issues around planning applications. I am more than happy to speak to him further to understand the issue in greater detail.

Planning and Development: Women’s Safety

Matt Western Excerpts

Wednesday 20th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Housing (Stuart Andrew)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) on securing this important debate. She is right to highlight and speak so powerfully about the issues that she has raised. I too want to take a moment to pay tribute to Sarah Everard and all those other women who have sadly been victims in this country. The Government empathise deeply with the calls for a greater focus on women’s safety in planning and more generally. This is a priority in my Department and it rightly deserves a cross-Government approach. However, I want to say at the outset that planning is a devolved matter, so I can speak only for the laws and rules that extend to England. As the hon. Lady mentioned, the planning system in England already has a framework of policy and guidance in place to make new developments safe, and I am grateful to have this opportunity to highlight it today so that, hopefully, planning authorities around the country will be even more aware of the guidance that is in place.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for giving way and I congratulate the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) on securing the debate. It is important, and it has made me think about the challenges involved.

One point I want to raise with the Minister is that this is not just about the planning of new developments; it is about the delivery of them as well. There are several estates being built in my constituency. People are already moving in, and many women have approached me and said that there is no safety in the form of street lights, pavements and secure walkways for them. So this is about not only the absolute end of the project but the delivery of the development.

[Stuart Andrew]

The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point. I have had exactly the same sort of developments in my own constituency—large developments that have taken a number of years. In fact, I helped to get some street lighting in the first part of one development because I had exactly the same issues. These are things that I will certainly take more consideration of in this role.

Our view is that any change to the existing planning system requires careful consideration in order to avoid any unintended consequences. I will briefly set out for hon. Members the current planning process in England, but I must reiterate that women’s safety relies on much more than just good planning practice, as the hon. Member for Edinburgh West said. My Department has made it clear through the national planning policy framework that planning policies and decisions should aim to create safe places. Chapter 8 of the framework explicitly states that planning policies and decisions should promote public safety. That can often be achieved with pedestrian cycle routes, high-quality public spaces and the active use of park and playgrounds.

The supporting section of the framework’s planning practice guidance on healthy and safe communities expands on that. It states:

“Planning provides an important opportunity to consider the security of the built environment”

and

“those that live and work in it.”

It also references section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as amended. This requires all local, joint and combined authorities to exercise their functions with regard to their effect on crime and disorder, and to do all they reasonably can to prevent both.

On the subject of design in the planning system, the hon. Lady rightly mentioned the national design guide and the national model design code, which help councils and builders to create buildings that are safe for every member of the community. Specifically, the national design guide sets out 10 characteristics of well-designed places that councils can refer to when considering a planning application. The guide is also used by planners creating local policy so that they, together with the community, can define what good and safe design means in that area.

The national guide emphasises that where developments have public spaces and a network of streets, they must be safe and secure and accessible to all. Importantly, the guide makes it clear that shared spaces should be safe and feel safe, not just for the people living or working in nearby buildings but for visitors and passers-by too. That is essential for overcoming crime and the fear of crime because, as hon. Members will know, when a development gains a reputation for being quiet, poorly lit or dangerous, it is likely to attract even more criminal behaviour and it becomes a vicious cycle.

The national design guide does a lot to prevent that from the outset by asking for an assessment of risks in all new developments and a clear plan for mitigating them. It also encourages the use of what are known in the industry as “active frontages” so there is a steady stream of people taking the same route at different times of the day.

Finally, the guide makes it clear that natural surveillance should be factored into the planning equation, with windows and balconies so that people can feel safe in the knowledge that local streets and public spaces can be seen by people nearby from above and at street level.

That is what the national design guide seeks to achieve, but there is also the national model design code, which sets a baseline standard of quality and practice that councils are expected to meet when developing their own local design codes and determining planning applications. This includes how the design of new developments should enhance the health and wellbeing of local communities and create safe, inclusive and active environments.

The national model design code states that developments should include natural surveillance of the street, good lighting and high levels of footfall to deter criminal behaviour and ensure people feel safe walking the street. Importantly, the code reminds planners that insecure places can disproportionately affect groups with protected characteristics, including gender.

The Government’s policy and guidance on safety in new developments must be taken into account by councils when preparing their development plans, and they are very much a material consideration in planning decisions. The planning system is centred on effective community engagement, so when preparing a design code that sets the design standard for a local area, or when determining a planning application, there is an opportunity for everyone, including women and all those with an interest in personal safety, to help shape new buildings, streets and public spaces. In that sense, there is already a strong requirement that the planning system should do all it can to help ensure the safety of women and, indeed, all members of the community.

[Matt Western]

The Minister is generous in giving way, and I hear what he is saying. Perhaps he could meet me to discuss this, but I have very upset, angry and distraught people, particularly women, on this new estate, where there is no lighting on certain streets and where some pathways do not yet exist. There seems to be no provision for those pathways.

[Stuart Andrew]

I would be more than happy to meet the hon. Gentleman. As he knows, we are currently considering a raft of planning issues, so perhaps this is something we can discuss.

The Department for Transport is also giving councils further guidance on street design. We are working closely with DFT on a revised “Manual for Streets”, for all councils in England to use when designing new roads and pedestrianised routes. It helps councils to make sure that paths and public spaces are overlooked by residential buildings, have good lighting and do not suffer from blind corners or other design flaws that can be exploited by criminals.

Last year, DFT launched a call for evidence on personal safety measures in streets and public spaces, to find out more about how people, particularly women, feel unsafe when using the street and experience harassment, intimidation or unwanted sexual behaviour in public spaces. The aim was to gather information to understand the problem, identify possible solutions and include what works and, more importantly, what does not work in that space. A new version of the guidance is set to be published later this year.

Another crucial safeguard in protecting women’s safety through the planning system is the support and advice on Secured by Design standards, which is available from the police through a network of designing out crime officers across the UK. These officers play a key role because they can liaise directly with the architects, designers and local planning authorities on a particular planning application. They can also provide specialist advice on the security of new buildings, as well the refurbishment of old ones, so they are as safe as they can be. Ensuring that consultation with Secured by Design and other experts in the field is taking place right from the start of the design stage is the best way to ensure that a proposed development protects women, girls and anyone else who may feel vulnerable—that is where our focus must be.

That said, the Government wholeheartedly agree that we need to do more to protect vulnerable women, which is why, as hon. Members will know, in July last year we published our cross-Government tackling violence against women and girls strategy. It sets out our ambition to ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere—at home, online and on the streets. The strategy presents a number of measures designed to improve women’s safety, including the online tool StreetSafe, which encourages women and girls to anonymously report areas where they have felt unsafe, whether that is because of poor lighting, a lack of CCTV coverage or the people who were around them.

Since 2020, we have also provided £70 million to police and crime commissioners and councils in England and Wales through our flagship safer streets fund. That initiative is specifically focused on preventing neighbourhood crime, crime in public spaces and violence against women and girls. It has funded life-saving projects comprising not only traditional crime prevention techniques, such as better CCTV and street lighting, but creative interventions such as bystander training and educational initiatives to change attitudes and raise awareness. We are committing a further £150 million to the safer streets programme over the next three years, with tackling neighbourhood crime, antisocial behaviour and violence against women and girls as its key objectives.

The Government recognise that the built environment has a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing, so it needs to feel safe and secure for every member of the community. Through the design guide and the design code, we are giving both councils and developers the tools they need to create green, sustainable neighbourhoods with safety at their very heart. Those tools are already being put into action. Let me give a couple of examples: in Cambridge, the development at Marmalade Lane was designed to prioritise pedestrians, with a focus on social interaction; and Horsted Park in Kent was designed with visibility over parking spaces, with tree and shrub planting kept low to maintain visibility along the street and towards front doors—that is exactly the point that the hon Lady mentioned.

Our cities are also making improvements to existing public spaces, with good maintenance and management and a focus on lighting design that involves collaboration with a wide range of groups. We are also doubling our efforts to protect women and girls not just through effective planning but through a comprehensive strategy to reduce the prevalence of violence against them in the long term. That rightly means a wide range of Departments treating this with the urgency it deserves. I can give the hon. Member for Edinburgh West the commitment today that I will work with her and Members on both sides of the House to deliver on that mission, ensuring that housing and planning policy is playing its part in creating a safer society for all, which I am sure we all want to see.

Question put and agreed to.

Homes for Ukraine Scheme

Matt Western Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

I am slightly confused—perhaps I do not completely understand the question—but I think that for the Government to do the matches would be inappropriate. It seems to me that the matches made so far by non-governmental organisations or charities are proving incredibly effective. That approach is ensuring that the matches are more likely to last. With the greatest respect, for the Government to be involved in putting people together would only take away our focus from the administrative element that we need to deal with. There are excellent charities and NGOs that are very capable and are engaging very passionately with the Government to offer their services; I think that that is proving the best route.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has said that if it were left to the individual sponsor and the refugees, the process would be a whole lot quicker. However, Kateryna and 11-year-old Vadym are living in temporary accommodation in Poland; a home and a school place are waiting for them in my constituency, but clearly the Home Office system of matching is not working. They are absolutely frustrated. They have a home waiting for them, so will the Minister step up, work with the Home Office and get them over to this country?

[Eddie Hughes]

The pace at which we are getting through applications is ramping up: we will very soon be working our way through more than 10,000 a week. I completely understand the frustration that the hon. Gentleman expresses, because we would all like to see the process working far more quickly than it is already, but we are committed to ensuring that it works more quickly by the day.

Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Western Excerpts

Monday 24th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Yes.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will be aware that Warwickshire County Council is keen to have some sort of county unitary deal, but he will also be aware that Warwick District Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council recently voted for a combined council—probably with the intent of a unitary one as well. Should it not be down to not the councillors or the Secretary of State, but the public to decide the future of local government across our country?

[Michael Gove]

I welcome the moves across Warwickshire to consider how services can be delivered even more efficiently as part of the economic success story that is the greater west midlands. In particular, I commend the leadership of Izzi Seccombe, the leader of Warwickshire County Council. The fact that she and her group continue to be re-elected with ever greater levels of support indicates that she is in a strong position to help bring people together across the constituency.

New Homes: Developers, Housebuilders and Management Companies

Matt Western Excerpts

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Westminster Hall

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I wish a happy new year to you and to all present. I congratulate the hon. Member for Wantage (David Johnston) on securing the debate.

The lack of reference to local authorities and councils in the debate and its title is very telling. Although I understand that the focus is very much on developers and house builders, looking at the changes to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities—the former Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which no longer includes local government in its name—I am concerned about the future of the provision of housing.

As many have said, we need to look at the sector in the round. It is clear that, for many years, there has been too cosy a relationship between developers and certain preferred management companies and builders. The role of locally elected representatives and the voice of communities really matter in delivering housing, as does knowing what is required in the area. Good local authorities can absolutely help with that. Throughout the pandemic, it was local authorities that delivered and helped us through the challenges.

We have good planners in our local authorities and, with proper consultation, they can build the right mix of housing to meet the needs of local people, not the needs of developers. We need truly affordable housing—social housing—for young people who are so often priced out of their communities, whether they be in villages, towns or neighbourhoods. We also need provision for seniors, who may no longer need several bedrooms and may want or need to downsize. Retaining independence is critical to their mental health and wellbeing, and access to town centres and communal spaces is vital for them, but they are often left remote from the communities they have lived in their entire life; they are denied access to transport networks and it is not a short walk into the centre of their community.

Too much has been left to the enterprise of the market, which has been shown not to work in the interests of people. The Government have, perhaps, been too giddy on the donations of developer donors to act and do what is right. The Government were predated by a coalition Government who so diluted building regulations and planning legislation that they delivered a developers’ charter, resulting in low-density housing developments, unsustainable housing with poor energy performance, and greater car dependency. In my constituency, there are estates with no community centres or shopping areas, although they have been promised.

Councils need greater power. As many have said across this Chamber, rather than emasculating councils, the Government need to empower them by giving them the tools and the authority to deliver what is needed in their localities. The number of applications approved by councils that remain unbuilt is striking. According to the Local Government Association, 1.1 million homes are yet to be built out, and there are a further 1 million for which developers are yet to seek planning permission. That is 2 million homes that could be built.

We have heard about the role of developers who are land banking and not building out—look at the Letwin review of some years ago and where that led. Although the review contained some decent findings, it was inconclusive and could have been much harder hitting, as I discussed with Sir Oliver Letwin when he was still in this place. The issue of the national planning policy framework and the Localism Act 2011 led to the question of viability, which is premised on the cost of land. Giving greater authority and power to local government would address that and change the dynamic between developers, builders and authorities.

Builders are sometimes linked or tied to developers. There are good ones and bad ones, and there are also subcontractors in the mix. When we talk about the quality of house building, it is often not the builders but the subbies who come in and do the work. There are then issues of legality and contractual responsibility in any subsequent claim.

On management companies, as we have heard, residents are locked into high annual fees. People are being bullied and exploited, and as we have heard—it is certainly true of my Warwick and Leamington constituency—many residents do not want to be named. They do not want to have information in the public arena about the estate they live on for fear of the impact on property values, and of course the developers and builders know that.

These estate management companies are exploiting residents; we have heard so much about that already. Developers are claiming that residents will get a discount on their council tax because of the management fees they pay for green spaces. It is complete nonsense that they are being promised. There are streets that refuse lorries cannot even go down.

We need to see what the actual housing need is. We have seen the output from the Government’s questionable algorithms over recent months. We need to deliver power to local authorities, and we need localised and regionalised planning to help deliver that. The infrastructure that comes with housing, such as transport, schools, GP provision and even shops, needs to be put in. On environmental standards, thousands of homes have been built in Warwick and Leamington, including some with solar panels on north-facing roofs, believe it or not. We have the future home standard, but it lacks ambition. In 2016, we were meant to have zero-carbon homes. We would have built 1 million homes to that standard by now if that had been allowed. We need greater consumer protections.

Finally, housing is too expensive in this country. So much of that is down to the cost of land. It is a huge economic cost, which is having huge impacts on our wider economy. We need to bring down the cost of housing.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords]

Matt Western Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 29th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making some incredibly important points. I have parallels in my constituency, as I am sure do other Members across the House. In one example, we have a managing company, a massive social housing provider and a partnership scheme, as he describes it, and the builder. It is a big organisation, but there is no overall ownership of the issues. Residents get utterly frustrated—I am thinking about Ellie, Matt, Sarah and others. There are 200 of them in this one development and they cannot get answers from anybody because no one is really taking ownership of the problem.

[Matt Rodda]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, because he shows that there is a wider issue with this type of behaviour. It is deeply worrying. These are ordinary families trying to get on with their daily lives. They want to be able to find a home of their own in a high-cost area and they are being treated in the most appalling way by an organisation that should be much more responsible. As I have said, I, my office and local councillors have been struggling to find a way of solving this problem, but we have not had much success so far and would appreciate the Minister’s help. We hope that, at some point, Housing Solutions will compensate these poor residents for the way that they have been treated and, indeed, buy them out of their properties if possible. It is absolutely appalling to live next to a haulage yard. People are constantly interrupted by noise from HGVs, driving past at all hours of the day and night. The air pollution from diesel particulates and nitrous oxide is deeply worrying. There is no way of protecting children and other vulnerable people in that situation. I am sure the whole House would agree that no one wants that for their constituents. There is also an issue with planning law that needs to be addressed, by which I mean looking at the risks from air pollution and from putting housing in close proximity to an industrial development. I would appreciate the Minister’s help with that.

Finally, let me reiterate the points made by other colleagues about the wider issue of leasehold, which is a completely out-of-date system and totally unfair to first-time buyers and other householders—whether they be young residents, people in leasehold properties for long periods of time, or, as the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) said, older residents. This system should come to an end. It is a feudal system. Our country is unique in having such a system. Surely we need to end it once and for all and move on from it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jane Hunt (Loughborough) (Con)]

I am delighted to speak in support of this Bill. I have one or two points to raise, but in general this is an excellent Bill.

For too long, many of my constituents who have realised their dream of owning their own home have been trapped in a cycle of cumbersome bureaucracy and additional, unnecessary and, frankly, unfair expenses in the form of both ground rent and service charges. Since becoming an MP, I have supported a number of these constituents, some of whom have told me that they were not clearly informed about the additional costs they were signing up to when buying their house—costs that have caused significant stress and hardship. I had hoped to provide an example, but unfortunately, all the cases are currently undergoing legal action, which only reinforces my point that change is necessary. I therefore welcome the Bill, which seeks to end these unfair practices.

[Matt Western]

I share a lot of the hon. Lady’s concerns about what her constituents are experiencing. Many thousands of new homes are being built, and constituents are frustrated and surprised when they discover that they have just bought a leasehold house. We understand that a third of leasehold properties are typically houses. Does she agree that where houses have been built as leasehold, surely the simplest thing would be to make them all freehold, and to get agreement with all the developers to reduce the cost of transfer?

[Jane Hunt]

I wonder whether that is part of the main course that is coming up. I am not sure; we will see, I suppose.

I think I got the same memo as my right hon. Friends the Members for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers), and for New Forest East (Dr Lewis), as I am going to talk about retirement homes for a moment. I draw the Minister’s attention to an issue I have previously raised with him. I have been contacted by a leading developer and manager of retirement communities, which has recently completed Mill Gardens and Farnham House retirement living in my constituency. McCarthy and Stone is concerned about the impact the Bill could have on the retirement sector, following the decision not to provide it with a concession from the ban on ground rents. While it is welcome that the Bill provides for a short transition period, it does not take into account developments that were in the pipeline before the position changed, and the impact that the provisions will have on schemes that will be part-sold when the legislation comes into force.

The proposals are likely to mean that retirement developments on which building started when ground rents were expressly permitted will find themselves split, with two lease structures operating in the same building. That is likely to cause legal complexity and on-site management issues, and to complicate future apartment transactions. It could throw into doubt the financial sustainability of some communities, on the basis that the collective ground rent income on which a development’s funding was predicated will be substantially reduced, even though the development has already been built.

Furthermore, financial contributions to the development costs of communal areas, which were previously shared transparently and equitably, will become complicated, and that risks a sense of unfairness and disunity arising between residents in the same block. I wonder, therefore, whether a modest technical change could be made to the Bill to allow for developments already part-sold to complete sales, so that all apartments operate on the same basis.

I heard the points made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), the previous Secretary of State, on retirement homes and wonder whether a longer transition period for retirement homes would be better than one ending in 2023. That said, it cannot be right for buyers of new properties to face further financial demands for ground rent. House buying must be made fairer and more transparent, and freeholders and landlords must not be able to continue to amass significant profits from ground rent and, indeed, administration charges to the detriment of homeowners. The Bill is therefore an incredibly important piece of legislation that I wholeheartedly support.

Budget Resolutions

Matt Western Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

I am sure I am not alone in noticing—certainly the Foreign Secretary has done—that the Chancellor seems to be a little bit too preoccupied by his own self-image and should perhaps be more concerned about the prospects of others.

The harsh reality out there is that we are facing a 1.3% growth rate versus the 2.3% that we enjoyed under the last Labour Government, which would have carried through to the past decade. The economy has been badly damaged by the past 18 months, but particularly by the past 11 years. The purchasing managers index, a true measure of confidence in the economy, shows the widest margin between services and manufacturing since 2009. Vehicle manufacturing was down by 42% last month, and that is the third consecutive month that it has fallen. We are facing a cost-of-living crisis ripping through our communities, with food inflation at 1.1% just in the month of August. As for the pay increases that the Chancellor has talked about, just remember that back at the beginning of the year he was talking about 1% for nurses, and he must have realised that inflation was going to start tearing through our economy.

This is hurting people everywhere, and not just the majority of those on universal credit—hot on the heels of national insurance increases, it is going to affect all of us. According to the Resolution Foundation, we all face an average of £3,000 in tax increases, with women, on average, £1,800 worse off over the next six years. There is an energy crisis with people facing energy poverty—the stark choice between heating or eating. The Government could have done more by capping VAT, but they chose not to. In education, just one third of Kevan Collins’, the catch-up tsar’s, budget is actually being allocated, with £10 billion missing that could have been put in. There is no mention of funding for higher education and support for students at this difficult time. We see communities and town centres decimated by the hollowing out by the likes of Amazon who are then rewarded with tax breaks. I welcome the announcement on housing support and more housing, but, like the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) and my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), I want to see an absolute commitment to more social and, in particular, council housing.

There was no mention of the climate crisis, which the Chancellor failed to address. This Government are not on track to achieve the fourth or fifth carbon budget, yet they still, despite the penalties that we will face, see it as right to cut air passenger duty on short-haul flights. The reality is that we are seeing one of the major impacts of climate change—heavy instant flooding—happening in Yorkshire, south Wales, London, the midlands and elsewhere.

Let me contrast this with what Labour would promise. We have made it clear that we will not cut corners on children’s education. The full £15 billion that was called for by the catch-up tsar would be put into our schools. There would be a proper rise in the minimum wage to £10 per hour. We would cut VAT on energy bills to help families through this winter. We would remove business rates to help our businesses and secure jobs. We would deliver a green industrial revolution providing jobs and investment in every community. We would provide an industrial strategy. Just look at what Joe Biden has done in the US with his $52 billion CHIPS for America Act to secure semiconductor supplies. That is what I call a strategy. The choice is clear between the high-tax, low-productivity, low-growth model of this Government and the fair-tax, high-productivity, sustained growth model offered by Labour.

Planning

Matt Western Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Westminster Hall

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab) [V]]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins. I congratulate the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely) on securing the debate and thank him for his valued contribution to the all-party parliamentary group for council housing, which I have the privilege to chair.

We could do much to address the considerable inequality in our society by tackling the housing crisis. Many of us across the House understand that housing is vital to enabling a decent quality of life. In turn, we appreciate that it hinges on a planning system that is fair. I take that fairness to comprise wide-scale access to affordable housing, strong local democratic controls on housing developers and the prioritisation of local communities. Sadly, that is distinctly absent from the Government’s proposed reforms to the planning system.

Although I accept that there is a severe need for housing in this country, a planning system that does not take into account those markers of fairness will do nothing for local people up and down the country, including those in my constituency. The issue is about what housing is required and where. I have more faith in the old system, which had greater powers for authorities and local development corporations, but the Localism Act 2011 greatly denuded the powers of local authorities and, in particular, muzzled the voices of our communities.

Let me give one example that is going through the system and relates to Warwick District Council’s local plan, which runs to 2029. The application for what is labelled the East Whitnash housing development is currently being considered by the planning inspector. The proposed housing development has no regard for local traffic issues or the wishes of residents. It is far from being a sustainable development; it has everything to do with over-development. Our local plan estimates that 20,000 new homes will be delivered, representing an over-development of 3,500 dwellings.

Forgive me, but the common theme throughout the debate has been over-development coupled with overestimation. The challenge has been great enough under the existing planning legislation, which already stifles local voices. The Government’s plans to stop local opponents blocking developments in designated growth zones mean that the concerns raised by the local community in Whitnash and elsewhere will hold no sway—so much for local accountability.

More specifically, I am deeply concerned by the advent of a new planning system in which affordable housing will be increasingly out of reach. As my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) stated, there is real unaffordability in many areas across the country. With an increasing amount of power centralised in the hands of housing developers, I struggle to see how the Government’s proposals will turn the tide of the declining number of affordable houses.

I suggest some improvements to the Bill: keep prioritising local government so that local officials will not be stripped of their power to assess building applications; establish regional development corporations led by local authorities, as well as community-led proposals; on community-led housing, ensure that senior Government figures actually take on board that, as we have heard, most communities welcome housing provided that it is truly affordable for young people; and prioritise local, affordable homes—for too many areas, the cost of housing as a ratio of local incomes is way too high. We must also ensure that there are enhanced powers for local authorities. We need to proscribe land banking and provide greater powers to local authorities to buy sites at existing land prices. All too often, developers control land, making millions on land options, while landowners ride off into the sunset, pocketing tens of millions of pounds.

The planning Bill needs to ensure that we build communities, not houses. All too often, there are no shops, pubs or community centres, as has been demonstrated south of Warwick and Leamington. Infrastructure needs to be built in advance, and all that is possible. I urge the Government to listen to us and the public, and to stop listening to the developer-donors who are destroying our countryside, denying communities the right housing and leaving generations impoverished as a result.

Affordable and Safe Housing for All

Matt Western Excerpts

Tuesday 18th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Last Monday, a mere 80 hours after polling stations had closed, a leaflet fell on our doormat. Even though consent is already in place for 4,000 homes, which is more than necessary, it was the start of a consultation, a new local plan for Warwick and Leamington and the wider area. So many constituents in Bishop’s Tachbrook, Barford, Budbrooke, Hampton Magna and Hatton in my constituency will be rightly alarmed by what is being proposed, because it will be underpinned by the new planning Bill, which is nothing short of a developers’ charter.

Let us be honest: the Queen’s Speech did not present a realistic plan to fix the housing crisis. After all, we have seen an absolute reduction of 200,000 social rent homes since 2010. Where were the proposals to build more council housing and the 150,000 social rent homes that are needed and have been called for by Shelter and by Opposition Members? Since 2010, Warwick District Council in my constituency has built only 21 council homes. Where was the security for private renters? The Government promised better protection, but the renters reform Bill has been kicked into the long grass. Where was the ambition to invest in existing council housing stock or to address some of the considerable inequalities that have been exposed in the past year?

What pains me so greatly is that in this year of COP26, the Government lack ambition to build zero-carbon homes. We are five years on from 2016, the date by which the last Labour Government promised to introduce them. Five lost years, 1 million zero-carbon homes that would have been delivered by a Labour Government—just imagine.

I will leave for another day topics such as higher education, but in the few seconds that remain, let me highlight a few other major issues in the Queen’s Speech—a Queen’s Speech with barely a full sentence on social care, perhaps the greatest challenge of our times along with climate change, which received little more. That point brings me to the need for a network of 2 million electric vehicle charging points, as highlighted by the National Infrastructure Commission and Sir John Armitt. Today, we have just 23,000 public EV charging points.

The Queen’s Speech failed to recognise that commuting has changed forever. Instead, it favours iron rails over fibre-optic cables. It promises freeports, the emperor’s new clothes. It promises, or claims, a jobs miracle, but it is a jobs mirage—low-paid, insecure work, zero-hours contracts, a gig economy. Finally, there is voter ID and the suppression of public protests. No wonder Her Majesty looked so ill at ease delivering her Gracious Speech.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I will just caution the hon. Gentleman that in this Chamber we do not mention Her Majesty’s opinions on any political matter at all. I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman was being careful in the way he said that remark, so I will not reprimand him any further, but just for the advice of new Members who might not have listened to a Queen’s Speech debate before, nobody has any idea whether Her Majesty likes any policy or not.