Coastal Communities

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steff Aquarone]

It is not ideological; we must be pragmatic in these things. The right sort of holiday lets can bring in welcome tourism to North Norfolk, but there is a safety issue regarding regulation, which I am very sympathetic to. I would be very interested in talking in more detail about our shared interest in this matter at another time.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important debate that affects so many constituencies around the country. In Sea View Street in Cleethorpes there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of Airbnbs. That street has a unique identity, and the Airbnbs are taking away from the impact of local businesses and the local tourist trade, because they are using those shop façades. Does he think that more should be done to reduce the Airbnbs and protect the unique identity of some of these shopping streets?

[Steff Aquarone]

I do think that more should be done. It is a classic example both of unintended consequences from the explosion of a successful tech platform that was originally designed for people to let out spare rooms and is now a mainstream booking platform, and of the inevitable fact that legislation moves more slowly than life. Again, I would be interested in a further discussion on that topic, which affects us both.

In Cornwall—we are not alone in the struggle—about 14,000 second homes are sitting empty, while it is also in the midst of a critical housing crisis.

Plan for Neighbourhoods

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alex Norris]

I am grateful for that, and for the conversations that I have had with the right hon. Gentleman. The difference between his area and the other 74 is that in his case, the connection is with a town council, rather than a local authority. As he knows, I am a great proponent of town and parish councils. He bears a heavy weight as a result, but we want to demonstrate that this is a model that works and could be used again in the future. I look forward to working with him, and I will of course pay that visit.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

The two towns in my constituency are delighted to be included on the list of towns that will receive this long-term funding—such certainty has been absent from previous financial commitments—but I am particularly interested in the Government’s arrangements for the future. Under the previous arrangements for town board deals, decisions have been made about putting money into parts of projects that have been left to suffer delay and incur extra costs; in my case, money that had been intended for the library was reallocated. Can my hon. Friend reassure my constituents that there will be an opportunity to review the Government’s arrangements for the new neighbourhood boards?

[Alex Norris]

Yes: now is the time to review those boards, and we will be asking for that to be done by the end of next month. There will then be time for the boards to formulate plans over the next few months, and to put in writing how the money will be used to make that commitment to, and contract with, the local community. I hope that communities become involved in those conversations—indeed, I am sure that they will—so that the plans reflect what local people want.

High Street Rental Auctions

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) on securing this important debate on high street rental auctions and everything that that means for representatives of towns in particular around this country.

I was elected on a commitment to help to fix our town centres and get them back to being places where people want to spend time and enjoy spending time, bringing back a sense of community. These increased powers for local authorities are a fantastic opportunity to unlock the full potential of high streets across the nation, including the ones in my constituency of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes. The Labour Government’s announcement on high street rental auctions is a welcome and much-needed intervention to give greater control of the state of our high streets back to local people, to empower them and their local authorities, and to give them the opportunity to play a part in revitalising our high streets.

We have had levelling-up funds, towns funds, future high streets funds and many more—too many for me to remember. They were fragmented and piecemeal initiatives offered by previous Governments, generally characterised by competitive funding pots that pitted towns against one another. Ultimately, they have failed to deliver the changes that were promised, and they have left communities like ours—I am guessing from the supportive groans behind me that Members agree—frustrated at the many promises but little or delayed delivery.

This proposal is a substantial change that will give power back to local areas, putting them in charge of their own destinies and how they want to meaningfully revive their high streets. As a case in point, the redevelopment of the shopping centre in Grimsby is very controversial, with £25 million spent by the local authority on purchasing Freshney Place, which has long had significant leaks in its roof. It is causing concern for local residents—is it a white elephant? That is only one of the changes that has been taken on in an attempt to repurpose Grimsby town centre for 21st-century habits, while recognising the increase in online shopping.

The redevelopment has laudable aims, but seven years after signing a purported £67 million town deal and a further four years after local growth funding, the most that anybody visiting the town centre could say is that the Conservative council has managed to repave the old bus station area again. As you know, Mr Vickers, that is a source of contention locally, with some seating and landscaping, but also shingle that unfortunately spreads itself all over—that has created another mess and another problem. Even that work was over time and over budget. People look at those headline figures and wonder where on earth all the money has gone because they cannot see any evidence of it in the delivery.

We can contrast that effort, which has taken a very long time, with the redevelopment of St James House, a long neglected and derelict building opposite our historic minster in the heart of the town centre. A local business support organisation called E-Factor has taken that building on and, after intense work, is due to open its doors of brand-new business suites, completely revitalising the building and turning what was a bit of a monstrosity into a place that people want to work out of. The empty building drew antisocial behaviour to it—undesirables gravitated to the old car parking spaces that were neglected and left—but now people are pleased and proud to be part of the new development. That is an indication of what can come from expanding the powers of local authorities.

On Grimsby’s commercial vacancy rate at the end of 2023, I see Bournemouth’s 15% vacancy rate and raise it to Grimsby’s 27%, which is over double the national average. My hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West used the word “staggering”, which I echo, because it really is. Even in the attractive and bustling St Peter’s Avenue in Cleethorpes, the vacant shop fronts seem to be staying vacant for much longer.

Such properties leave high streets with lengthy stretches of nothingness at risk of vandalism and, frankly, are a bit depressing to walk down when going to the shops. The fact that they are vacant for long periods does not seem to incentivise landlords in any way to reduce their rental asking prices. It seems that they would rather leave them vacant until the right client comes along, although I am not sure who those right clients are. Supporting our high streets also means championing the fantastic businesses that we already have.

In north-east Lincolnshire, the dedicated 2025 Group is committed to seeing our town flourish, and I am sure it will welcome the legislation. We have brilliant independent businesses in the constituency doing their best and playing their part. They are the backbone of our local economy and they will all benefit from the new powers, as they will no longer be sandwiched between derelict or empty premises.

I urge my local authority, North East Lincolnshire council, to take full advantage of the high street rental auctions when they are fully rolled out to maximise the ongoing work, complement it and aid its sustainability. They are a fantastic opportunity to tackle those empty shops and support local businesses, entrepreneurs, youth creatives and budding new organisations that have been crying out for affordable and central spaces to support their ideas and businesses, and they will help to restore pride in our community. By bringing those spaces back into use, we can create more jobs, attract more visitors and make our town centres the thriving spaces they deserve to be.

Responsibilities of Housing Developers

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Robbie Moore]

My hon. Friend’s excellent intervention gets to the nub of the point that I want to make. When multiple applications or developments are coming down the pipeline, they must all be considered duly and properly by the local authority. Bradford council, the unitary authority for my area, does not do that, which is incredibly frustrating because in order to work out the negative consequences, or indeed the positive impacts, that multiple developments will have on a community, those issues all have to be considered in the round. Residents need to feel that infrastructure and services are being properly considered.

That brings me on to a point that I had planned to make later about section 106 money and community infrastructure money. All too often, a local authority awards planning consent and then enters into a negotiation with the developer to agree the section 106 moneys that must then be paid to the local community, via the local authority, to mitigate any negative effects of the development. Unfortunately, in my constituency Bradford council is not taking a sufficiently robust negotiating position with the developer to extract as much financial benefit as possible for the local community so that that money can be spent in places like Silsden, Keighley and Ilkley and properly set against any negative impacts of the development.

I will give an example. With the development on Occupation Lane on the outskirts of Keighley, it was agreed that Barratt Homes would put in play facilities for children of all ages, up to the early teens. But what did we see when the development was complete? We saw play facilities that were more suitable for one or two-year-olds. The developer did the very bare minimum, which was obviously not what the residents expected when they purchased the homes. I could give other examples.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Many of these planning issues hark back to the Eric Pickles reforms, which the hon. Gentleman will remember all too well. One issue that I find in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes is that when it comes to section 106 funding, the power lies with the developers: they have much more negotiating strength. They do not want things like social homes as part of their developments, because they think that they will impact on the profits that the hon. Gentleman says are so important to securing the developments in the first place. Does he think that we need to regulate to ensure that the section 106 funding goes to the areas it was intended for, and ensure that local authorities are properly supported to acquire the expertise that they need to work against these developers?

--- Later in debate ---

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I rise to raise a specific issue in my constituency: the Clee Meadows estate, which is just off Ladysmith Road. It is an ex-industrial site that previously held the Birds Eye factory and was left to fall into a derelict state. It is in the heart of Grimsby town, and for years local residents complained about the lack of development and the fact that nothing was happening. Under the previous Labour council, decisive action was taken to start to build on that site and very nice housing was put up.

This debate is so relevant because it is about the long-term responsibilities of housing developers; despite the homes on that estate being very nice, the shortcuts taken by the developer have had long-lasting consequences. I was there the other week and I saw collapsing driveways, poor quality paths and paving, and pothole-ridden roads. It is only now, after I have raised the issue once in this place already, that the developer has started to get back in touch with the local authority and to take action to remedy some of the problems that residents have put up with for far too long.

I have been struck by the rest of the area that the estate sits in. It is a plot for 101 houses, but the rest of the area is a complete and utter bombsite, exactly as the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) put it. It is ripe for fly-tipping, which happens on a regular basis. There are storage facilities for the developer’s other activities, such as the Strawberry Fields development, just outside my constituency, which has taken the developer’s interest and means that he has taken his eye off the ball with Clee Meadows.

The thing that strikes me about the discussion around section 106 funding is that we do need houses in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, but the question is: what kind of houses? My local authority is Conservative-run at the moment, and the people there say to me, “We can’t sell some of the houses on these new developments.” I say, “That’s because they’re five-bedroom executive homes. They’re not the homes we need.” If we did not need the houses that we do, we would not have houses in multiple occupation popping up all over the place, we would not have massive waiting lists for housing associations, and we would not have people stuck in temporary accommodation. But that is exactly what we have.

There is a massive opportunity for social homes. There must be a better way of working out which housing sites have planning permission and the housing need in local areas. There is an opportunity for the Minister to share her wisdom on that with us today.

City and Town Centres: Regeneration

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) on securing this debate.

I want to focus my remarks on empty shops. Mr Vickers, as my constituent you will be very familiar with some of the comments that I will make. This is not a new story; the decline of town centres has been overseen by a decade and a half of neglect without a national strategy to ensure that communities continue to have healthy, thriving high streets and town centres. It has fallen to local areas to undertake plans themselves—expending significant cost and time—to present plans to Government and then to gradually eke out funds, at sporadic intervals, to try to fulfil their local vision. That has happened in Grimsby and Cleethorpes. An endeavour under the banner of the Greater Grimsby town deal board and the commitment of local businesses brought about the establishment of the 2025 Group, whose members are working together to deliver the kinds of improvements that will make areas attractive and safe, to encourage the increased use of expanding town centre facilities.

I have long argued that town centres and high streets need to evolve to survive, but that requires intervention when the market fails. Initiatives such as the new Horizon Youth Zone on Garth Lane, the introduction of a community diagnostic centre—that is not without its issues but I am raising them separately with the Health Secretary—or the proposed new transport hub will all go towards making Grimsby town centre much more attractive.

We have some brilliant businesses in our town centres and on our high streets that all worked so hard through the pandemic to keep going in the face of rising bills. They have dug deep and kept their doors open. I went to the Great Big Small awards recently and I was pleased to see so many businesses celebrating and being celebrated for their contributions to the vibrancy of the offer across north-east Lincolnshire. Although I do not have time to mention them all—I really wanted to—I will say that Buzz Café has the best chips in the world. If any Member wants to come for Fish and Chips Friday, they are very welcome.

In Grimsby and Cleethorpes, we have loads of empty shops, whether we are on St Peter’s Avenue or the marketplace just behind. The plan is to pedestrianise the marketplace, and local businesses are really worried that that will affect footfall for them. Companies, particularly banks, are leaving big gaps that lie empty for extended periods of time. When they are filled—this is an issue that I have raised before—they are filled with vape shops and barbers and there is a real lack of a range of different options. I really support the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North about keeping the quality good, the appearance less gaudy, and the impression of the area at a high level so it is improved and is made more, not less, attractive.

Estate Adoption: North-east England

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Emma Foody (Cramlington and Killingworth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered estate adoption in the North East.

Thank you for the honour of serving under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I am grateful to have this opportunity to move the motion, which is of considerable importance to my constituency of Cramlington and Killingworth. It is a newly formed constituency, made up of new towns as well as a number of villages, covering the north of Newcastle, south-east Northumberland, and north and north-west North Tyneside. As it is on the edge of different local authorities, over the past 10 to 15 years, our villages and towns have grown with significant levels of development. These developments provide important and needed homes for our communities, but there have also been significant challenges for those communities, and adoption and delivery of infrastructure are key among those challenges.

With the commitment of the new Labour Government to deliver the homes that our country needs, we need to ensure that we are not only building homes, but sustainable communities, with buy-in from residents. Delivering timely and appropriate infrastructure is a key part of that, because a home is not just the property that we live in, but the street that we live on, and the community we are a part of. For too many of my constituents, there are unacceptable delays in the delivery of even the most basic infrastructure. Residents who have worked hard, saved, and bought their first home, their family home, or their dream home, are left without adequate road surfaces, pavements, street lighting, pedestrian crossings, and road markings. Too often, people are left in limbo—passed from one organisation to the next, with each one trying to pass the buck—paying management fees and council tax, yet not having the basics, such as completed pavements, roads or communal facilities. Residents are left frustrated and angry, with a lack of communication from those responsible, a lack of accountability, and no certainty on when their estates will be finished.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

The situation which my hon. Friend describes in her constituency is mirrored in mine; it is an issue that affects properties around the country. Locals in my constituency will know the old Birds Eye site. It was a brilliant idea to bring new housing into the town centre, on a brownfield site, but latterly it has been discovered that the estate is half-finished, the roads are unpassable, and the paths unusable. Does she agree that local authorities should be given additional powers and that there should be caps on the costs that local authorities are required to pay, to force developers to complete these estates so that people can live in their dream home?

[Emma Foody]

This is an experience that is shared around the country, and we need to look at all available options to we resolve this matter. We are not talking about months that residents are left in this situation, but years—five, 10, 15 years, in which families see their children grow up and leave home before a road is completed.

Before the debate, I asked my constituents for their testimonies and experiences of the range of issues that they face. David, who lives on the Fairways estate in the west of Cramlington speaks of roads and pavements on the estate that are largely without tarmac, which has made using bikes, wheelchairs, and pushchairs dangerous outside the home. He talks of how residents are cut off from other facilities such as shops, schools, and parks, because the necessary footpaths were not built for years. He says that only after constant pressure from residents did the developer build a footpath, which is unlit and poorly laid—it would be difficult to use a pushchair or a wheelchair on it—and it links one housing estate to another through a field. If people have a car, the roads are not much better. They are often unfinished, with is a higher risk of damaging vehicles. When the roads are icy, there is more risk of traffic accidents.

Another constituent, Iain, has been contacting the developer of Five Mile Park in Wideopen for three years regarding the road surface. The estate was constructed almost 10 years ago, and he has been given excuse after excuse about why work has been delayed on the roads, pavements and footpaths. The developer informed Iain that the road had been completed more than a year ago. However, poor-quality work by contractors means that it has not been brought up to adoptable standards. That is just one case of many in which a developer will claim to have completed roads, pavements or other infrastructure, but not up to a standard for the local authority to adopt them.

Renters’ Rights Bill

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Angela Rayner]

I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point, but I disagree on how to resolve the issue. Rent controls restrict housing supply, which does not help anyone, but our Bill takes practical measures to help renters by empowering tenants to tackle unreasonable rent hikes and prohibiting unfair rental bidding, and we will continue to assess potential action on sky-high rents. Hopefully, we are taking measures that will help his constituents and others across the country.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Could my right hon. Friend clarify whether, under the Bill, landlords and letting agents will be prevented from requiring individuals who do not have all the correct supporting information to pay excessive deposits, which prohibit people from getting secure properties for their families?

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point about deposits and paying rent in advance. This Bill will protect tenants from requests for large amounts of rent in advance, but we are in listening mode. We will keep this issue under review during the passage of the Bill, and we will take the necessary action. We think that we have done enough on that, but we are open to interventions, if people feel that they would help.

Unlike in the previous Government’s Bill, the tribunal will not be able to increase rent above what was originally proposed by the landlord. In cases of undue hardship, we will give the tribunal the power to defer rent increases by up to two months, thereby finally ending the injustice of economic evictions.

However, that is not all we will do to tackle unfair rent costs. We remain committed to ending rental bidding wars, which all too often price hard-working families out of a home. Landlords and letting agents will be required to publish an asking rent for their property, and will not be allowed to ask for, encourage or accept a higher offer. We are delivering real change for working people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Monday 2nd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

The Government do not intend to require local planning authorities to amend neighbourhood plans in the future. Communities will continue to be able to choose whether they review or update their neighbourhood plan.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Could the Minister expand on his earlier answer relating to devolution, and perhaps provide a timeframe for some of the discussions that are taking place with local authorities about devolution plans that did not go ahead before the last general election? My constituents are very keen to move ahead with improvements to transport, education and inward investment.

[Jim McMahon]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and for her work on the agenda to further devolution in her region. We recognise that in some parts of the country, including Hull and East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire, local authorities worked up proposals for the previous Government that were not tabled before the election. We are currently working through those proposals at pace to make sure areas have clarity about where they are up to, and we look forward to reporting on that as soon as possible and meeting with local MPs as part of that process.

Deaths of Homeless People

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Tuesday 1st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Luke Hall]

I regret every single life lost on our streets. It is heartbreaking that those 729 people died on our streets last year. That demonstrates the need as clearly as ever—there is so much more to do. I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and come to the all-party group to discuss this in much more detail.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

The Minister is before us to convince us of the Government’s seriousness in taking forward this issue. Back in March, the UK Statistics Authority urged the Government to improve the quality of their homelessness figures, because if the Government do not know exactly how many people are homeless, how can they possibly expect to deal with the issue? What action have the Government taken on that advice?

Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) Bill (First sitting)

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 25th June 2019 Public Bill Committees

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

Q I am interested, Councillor Watts, in the comment you made in one of your earlier responses about the level of reserves that local authorities have had to retain, pending the outcome of appeals dating back—is it nine years?

Councillor Watts: To the 2010 revaluation, so from 2013 onwards.

[Melanie Onn]

Q That seems an extraordinarily long time for anyone to be waiting and holding finance that, as was rightly mentioned, should be being spent in local communities. Do you anticipate that the potential change from every five to every three years will improve that situation for local authorities, or make it harder for them?

On the financial position of local authorities and the level of reserves, are local authorities across the country fully prepared to deal with the potentially increased rate of appeals? The Minister has mentioned that he expects there to be fewer because the rates will be altered more regularly and there will not be such great changes.

Councillor Watts: We do not have a view on whether shifting the revaluations from five to three years will increase or reduce appeals—we will have to wait to see. What we need is some resourcing of the Valuation Office Agency and the valuation tribunal just to get through the very significant backlog from the 2010 revaluation. There is no structural fix to that; the Valuation Office Agency and the appeals tribunal just need to get through that backlog, quite a lot of which, it has to be said, is stuck in the courts at the moment. Therefore, it is not an easily soluble problem.

What we have not yet got, partially because it is early days in the check, challenge, appeal system, is any real sense of the number of appeals from the 2017 revaluation, and they could come through relatively late. That is one of the reasons we support a six-month deadline for businesses to lodge appeals, after the new valuations have been published, to give us some sense of the level of risk. But it could be that one of the impacts of the CCA system is that people are sitting on potential appeals, which will come through in due course, creating another layer of risk for businesses, and we will have to see about that.

As I understand it, the deadline for appeals on the 2017 revaluation has not yet been announced. We would hope that it was in line with the precedent, which would mean it would be the end of 2021, but we would welcome an early announcement on that to give us some sense of the scale of risk. It could well lead to more money having to be kept in reserves to manage a second or third round of risk around those appeals as well.

We would welcome the extra resources going in to clear the backlog. Whether more regular cycles lead to fewer appeals—I hope so, but we have no evidence to be able to comment on that either way.

[Melanie Onn]

Q Do you have any idea of how much is held nationally in reserves for this purpose? Did you mention that?

Councillor Watts: Yes, it is £2.5 billion.

Adrian Blaylock: It was £2.5 billion at the end of March 2017. If you look at the returns that local government is submitting to central Government in terms of their estimates, roughly £1 billion a year is being added to the appeals provision for loss for that particular year. Obviously, as appeals are heard and settled, some of that provision is released, but roughly £1 billion a year is set aside to settle appeals.

In answer to your question, do councils have enough reserves to pay for it? The way it works is that they will reduce their income from non-domestic rates; when they submit that return to central Government, they assume a level of loss and therefore that they will get less income. In effect, it creates its own provision—if that makes sense. That is where the reserve comes from.

[Graham P. Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Q Do you foresee any problems with the roll-out of the business rate retention scheme and this Bill? Do you think any anomalies or complexities will emerge from those two?

Adrian Blaylock: Nothing obvious occurs. There are a lot of unknowns about rates retention—we are talking about whether we carry on with a similar model to what we use now, just with the 75%, or whether we go for the alternative model, which was favoured in the December consultation—and what local government needs is certainty of funding, and understanding of when and how the money will come. So I do not think that the Bill particularly causes any issues, but it would be nice to get some early indication of where we are going with rates retention and how that will change.

Councillor Watts: I do not think there are any in-principle reasons why the Bill creates problems for business rates retention.

Annie Gascoyne: I agree.