Nick Boles
Main Page: Nick Boles (Independent - Grantham and Stamford)
Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
5. If he will review planning guidance relating to flooding risks.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
We are already looking to see what lessons can be learned from recent floods. There are strict tests to protect people and property from flooding, which all councils should follow, and we will underline the importance of that in new planning guidance to be published shortly.
Annette Brooke
I thank the Minister for his answer. Given our changing weather patterns, what advice would he give to local planning authorities and, indeed, planning inspectors on the allocation of housing sites that are identified as having future flood risk, in terms of green spaces, drainage systems, house design and, indeed, a need to find alternative sites?
Nick Boles
Development in flood risk areas must be flood resistant and resilient. That policy is very clear. I would advise inspectors and councils to follow the Environment Agency’s advice to the letter and make sure that all development is resilient to flood risk.
Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
Will the Minister tell us whether the Secretary of State now regrets his intemperate attacks last month on the Environment Agency and its staff over flooding?
Nick Boles
The Government are very clearly supportive of Environment Agency staff and the work it has been doing. That is why we have been funding the Environment Agency to continue to do that work and why we are ensuring that all local councils follow its advice on development.
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)
At Beesands in my constituency urgent work is needed, not just to repair sea defences, but to enhance them. The rocker arm has been sourced, but the work has been held up because of uncertainty about the need for planning permission. Will the Minister meet me urgently to discuss those uncertainties and the responsibilities for access at neighbouring North Hallsands?
Nick Boles
I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend. Part 12 of the general permitted development order gives permitted development rights on land belonging to or maintained by local authorities, but there are some restrictions with regard to the scale of such development, so the specific case would not matter. Of course, I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend.
Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
Last year, developers proposed 618 construction projects on land the Environment Agency deemed to be at particularly high risk of flooding. Does the Minister still accept the recommendation from the 2009 practice guide to planning policy statement 25 that, for new developments, the best way of reducing flood risk in the area is to control the water at source through sustainable drainage systems? If so, what is he doing to monitor and encourage the use of SUDs in new developments?
Nick Boles
The hon. Lady is right that SUDs can offer a very effective way of dealing with flood risk. I am sure she will welcome, as I do, the fact that the latest figures show that the estimated number of dwellings built within areas of high flood risk in England is now at its lowest rate since records began in 1989.
Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)
6. What assessment he has made of the effects of the local government finance settlement on local authority services for families with young children.
Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
16. What steps he is taking to promote neighbourhood planning.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
Neighbourhood planning is proving to be one of the Government’s most popular reforms. Nearly 1,000 communities across England are working on neighbourhood plans, and all eight of the plans to go to referendum thus far have commanded popular support.
Mark Pawsey
The pre-submission draft of Coton Park neighbourhood plan in my constituency is now ready for approval. It covers 950 properties. The team of residents who are drawing it up, ably led by Jill Simpson-Vince, are able to be close to the economic factors and have identified a number of key issues in respect of transport and social well-being. Does the Minister agree that Coton Park sets an excellent example of how a well-run neighbourhood plan process can give people a real say in improving their local areas?
Nick Boles
I greatly enjoyed visiting Coton Park with my hon. Friend and meeting Jill Simpson-Vince. It is a textbook case of how a community can come together to improve their lives through neighbourhood planning.
Andrea Leadsom
In 2010, Northamptonshire council leaders rightly decided that the best way to get a local plan in place quickly was to stick with Labour’s west Northamptonshire joint planning unit. Can my hon. Friend confirm that if they should wish to get rid of this undemocratic body once the local plan is completed, I hope in March this year, they need only write to his office requesting that it be disbanded?
Nick Boles
First, I congratulate my hon. Friend’s local authorities on making sure that the best is not the enemy of the good. She is absolutely right that the constituent authorities would need only to write to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to ask for the order to be revoked.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
Will the Minister congratulate residents of Barne Barton in my constituency on the work they are putting in, with the Ministry of Defence, to get the neighbourhood plan together? Locally, the Ministry of Defence is really helpful with very sensitive land issues. However, there is a clear lack of understanding of the statutory remit as regards what is in and what is out in relation to neighbourhood plans. Will he therefore undertake to talk to colleagues in other land-owning Departments, and will he ensure that the Defence Infrastructure Organisation is included, because it clearly has problems with this?
Nick Boles
I thank the hon. Lady and, indeed, the Opposition parties for supporting neighbourhood planning, because it is a really worthwhile endeavour. I am very happy to talk to all Departments and agencies about their responsibility to co-operate with it.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
What happens when a local neighbourhood seeks to protect a statutory designation such as green-belt land against the wishes of a local authority, particularly in metropolitan areas where such land is at a premium?
Nick Boles
The protections for green-belt land in the national planning policy framework are as strong as they have ever been in any planning policy. Green-belt land can be revised to meet other needs only by local authorities through the local plan process, and it can happen only after intense consultation and in exceptional circumstances.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)
22. Kirklees council has restarted its local development framework process, but it does not expect to have a local plan in place until early 2017. Until then, unscrupulous developers are using the void to build on provisional open land. Will the Minister clarify whether the council can do anything to stop those developments, which are against local wishes in many cases?
Nick Boles
First, no development should go ahead unless it can be made acceptable—unless it can be shown to be sustainable according to policies in the national planning policy framework. That gives my hon. Friend’s local authority lots of grounds to check whether a development is acceptable. Secondly, it is not good enough to have a local plan in place in 2017. This is the beginning of 2014, and the local authority should get a move on.
Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
12. What assessment he has made of the effect of the local government finance settlement on council services in Liverpool.
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
15. What assessment he has made of the frequency of the use of article 4 directions by local authorities to restrict the concentration of houses in multiple occupation in residential areas; and if he will make a statement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
Local authorities must inform my Department whenever they make an article 4 direction. We are aware of 47 directions issued in relation to houses of multiple occupation.
Steve McCabe
My constituents in Selly Oak ward in Birmingham are plagued by the constant conversion of three and four-bedroom family homes into seven and 10-bedroom houses of multiple occupation, without any regard for the impact on their lives. Does the Minister agree that planning officers in Birmingham have a route to tackle that through article 4 directions, and that they should stop making excuses and get on with it?
Nick Boles
Absolutely. My understanding is that Birmingham city council recently consulted on introducing just such an article 4 direction, and it would certainly seem to be an appropriate circumstance to look at such a thing.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)
19. What steps he is taking to increase the uptake of right to buy.
George Hollingbery (Meon Valley) (Con)
T4. We heard how much success there has been in neighbourhood planning across the country, but a great many communities that are a lot smaller than average would love to indulge in some sort of neighbourhood planning. Will the Minister consider introducing neighbourhood planning-lite for such communities?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
We have, I think, now reached the point where there has been enough experience of neighbourhood planning with enough different kinds of communities for us to learn lessons and to ask whether there is not a version of neighbourhood planning that might be more easily accessible and quicker for some communities. We are doing that work, and we are very keen to hear from any hon. Members and communities with their thoughts on how we can achieve that.
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)
The Secretary of State will be aware that the Leeds city region will become a combined authority in April, but at present York cannot formally join because its boundary is not contiguous. On 28 October 2013, I asked the right hon. Gentleman if he would respond to the city region’s proposal to deal with this. He described it as wholly sensible and said:
“I am confident we will have a resolution before Christmas.”—[Official Report, 28 October 2013; Vol. 569, c. 690.]
However, in a written answer last week the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) said that
“we are now considering consulting before the summer on a Legislative Reform Order”.—[Official Report, 24 February 2014; Vol. 576, c. 120W.]
Given the clear assurance that the Secretary of State gave me, will he gently say to his hon. Friend that he should get a move on?
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
There are neighbourhood plans in Chalford, Dursley, Eastington and nearly a dozen other areas in my constituency. Does the Minister agree that a good neighbourhood plan is an appropriate protector against inappropriate developments?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I look forward to visiting his constituency with him in the near future to see the planning work being done in some of his communities and by his local authority.
Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
Reigate and Banstead borough council is very close to approving a core strategy, after five years and three iterations, that is, frankly, in violation of the national planning policy guidance on the green belt. Will my right hon. and hon. Friends examine this situation as a matter of urgency?
Nick Boles
I would, of course, be happy to meet my hon. Friend to investigate any concerns he has. It is very important that these plans are produced after full local consultation and where the local council is in the driving seat.
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)
Does the Minister accept that a basis for funding fire services that does not take into account the specific risks in an area such as Cleveland, which has the highest concentration of COMAH—control of major accident hazards—sites, means that the funding settlement is neither fair nor safe?
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
Why does the Minister think Wiltshire council is yet to adopt a local development framework for the north of the county? What advice would he give to bring some order to planning and development around Chippenham and Corsham?
Nick Boles
It is probably fair to concede that for a council that has recently become unitary this is an intensely complicated process. Nevertheless, that council knew that it was taking on the responsibility and it now needs to get a move on and complete the plan.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
The only sport that is equally participated in by girls and boys is swimming. I do not know whether the Secretary of State can swim, but unfortunately many young people in this country still grow up unable to swim, which poses a threat in later life. Can he tell me how many swimming pools in this country have been closed since this Government came to power? If he is not able to give me a precise number now, perhaps he could write to me later.