Nick Boles
Main Page: Nick Boles (Independent - Grantham and Stamford)
Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire) (Lab)
5. If he will take steps to ensure that the views of local people are given priority in planning decisions on large-scale housing projects.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
Every area of the country needs more housing, and the views of local people are crucial in determining where and how those needs should be met, not least through local plans.
Natascha Engel
We need new homes in North East Derbyshire. The issue is that local people want to have a say in where those houses go, but their opinions and the decisions of the local planning authority are being overruled by the Government’s planning inspector. This is the opposite of localism, so what is the Minister doing to make sure that local people’s concerns are not being ignored?
Nick Boles
The opposite of localism was the situation we inherited in 2010, when only 35% of local authorities even had a published draft local plan. Now 55% of local authorities have a sound local plan and more than 75% have published a draft plan. That is the way for local people to decide locally, rather than the regional strategies that the hon. Lady supported. That is the way to ensure that local decisions inform development.
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)
Although I understand what the Minister is saying, I, like the hon. Member for North East Derbyshire (Natascha Engel), feel that where there is no local plan in place, as is the case in Wiltshire, the Government planning inspectors tend to use the old figures and the old central procedures in such a way that opportunistic developers, such as those who are trying to get 350 houses and a Tesco store outside Royal Wootton Bassett in my constituency, are now lodging applications with them that they would not otherwise be allowed to lodge. Will the Minister therefore allow the emerging core strategy to be used as part of how the inspector decides whether such applications are allowed?
Nick Boles
In responding to concerns expressed by my hon. Friend and a range of honourable colleagues, the Government made it clear in the planning guidance that was finalised two weeks ago that when a local plan has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination, it can absolutely be grounds for refusing an application if that application is substantial in the context of the plan. I hope that that is a power that authorities will be able to make use of.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
I am sure that the Minister will agree that local people should be consulted when planning will touch on their lives, but there is a danger, is there not, that in view of the dreadful housing and home shortage in our country, the views coming from Government Members this afternoon suggest a degree of complacency that is quite unbelievable. When will he get rid of the nimby influences in his party and start building homes?
Nick Boles
We are, of course, building homes at a faster rate having recovered from the most appalling recession which decimated our housing industry, but the hon. Gentleman is right to say that every area needs homes, and the right way for local people to express their opinions about development is by creating neighbourhood plans and local plans. Neighbourhood plans are the best possible way for local communities to express their views, and I am delighted that all 12 neighbourhood plans that have gone to a referendum have been passed, so local support for development can be won.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
18. With large-scale applications for such things as fracking, which presumably will not, by definition, be in local plans, at what point will local people have the chance to give their views, especially if there are to be large-scale lorry movements to take water in and out following the application?
Nick Boles
We recently published guidance setting out exactly how and when notification should be given of any proposal for fracking. Such notifications will ensure that local people know when there are proposals for fracking in an area so that they will have the opportunity to respond to the consultation.
Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
It is no surprise that the Planning Minister is getting grief from his Back Benchers about development being approved on greenfield and green-belt land. According to the Department’s figures, the amount of brownfield land changing to residential use has declined dramatically from 70% under Labour to just 53% under his Government. Does the Minister still stand behind his stated policy of using
“every inch of previously developed land to meet…housing need”,
and if so, what is going wrong?
Nick Boles
What is so puzzling about the hon. Lady’s question is that she cannot explain why every attempt that we have made to make it easier to convert existing property—offices, shops and agricultural buildings—into housing has been opposed by the Labour party. Labour Members cannot have it both ways: either they want to maximise the number of houses derived from existing property or they do not; but they cannot preach one thing and do the other.
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
The community in the Headingley and Hyde Park area of Leeds was dismayed last week when councillors disgracefully voted in favour of the development of a supermarket and housing on a playing field, which could have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure the Olympic legacy. An asset of community value application was in place, so what advice can the Minister give the community on urgently challenging the decision and stopping the development going ahead until the ACV application has been heard?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend will understand that I cannot comment on any particular application. Of course, I do not know precisely where that decision is, but he is always entitled to write to me or the Secretary of State to ask us to call in a decision, especially if it is more than locally controversial or challenges an important national policy area, such as the protection of playing fields.
Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con)
6. What estimate he has made of local authority revenues from the sale of recyclate in the last year for which figures are available.
Mary Macleod (Brentford and Isleworth) (Con)
9. What steps his Department is taking with the Department for Education to encourage the development of schools on former brownfield sites.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
The national planning policy framework makes clear the importance of planning for new school development. We have put in place new development rights to make it possible to convert a range of existing buildings into schools without the necessity of applying for planning permission.
Mary Macleod
I thank the Secretary of State for visiting Commerce road in Brentford and the new ISIS housing development last week. Given that I represent a London constituency and one of the fastest growing boroughs where school places are desperately needed, will the Under-Secretary encourage the working partnership between the developer and Transport for London to try to create a new site for a primary school in Brentford?
Nick Boles
I know that my hon. Friend has been tireless in promoting this scheme and, indeed, has managed to secure a visit from one of the Mayor of London’s deputies to discuss the possibility of transferring a site from Transport for London for school use. I will absolutely back her in that, and I am sure that she will quickly make progress.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
11. What assessment he has made of the wider applicability of the key elements of Kettering borough council's budget for 2014-15 which (a) freezes council tax, (b) cuts car parking charges and (c) maintains grants to the voluntary sector. [R]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
This question gives me an opportunity to clarify, for the sake of the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), what the Budget made clear, which is that the Government are going to consult on the creation of a single retail use class in town centres that will not include betting shops or payday lenders. If the consultation is followed through, it will diminish the ability to convert units into betting shops or premises for payday lenders. That would, I hope, produce the kind of effect for which my hon. Friend is looking.
Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)
T6. Several weeks ago, I asked the Secretary of State if he was prepared to backdate the changes to the Bellwin scheme, to ensure that those who suffered flooding in the north in 2012 and 2013 are provided with the same support as those affected by flooding in the south this winter. Is he prepared to make those changes and end that double standard, or is there still no support for those in the north?
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)
T8. Work recently started on a new crematorium in my constituency that was turned down by the local council but approved by the Government inspector. Is it not time to look again at when inspectors should be allowed to overturn local decisions and make it the exception rather than the rule?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend has been a vocal advocate for his constituents on particular applications in his area. As a result, we have clarified in recent planning guidance the time that a plan can be deemed to be sufficiently advanced but not yet sound, in order to enable a local authority to make a decision to refuse an application even if it does not have a sound plan. We believe that that is a step forward that gives councils the ability to make those decisions in such circumstances.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
T7. I recently visited Crownhill fire station and members of its watch would like a Minister to answer a question about the tapering arrangements for their pension scheme. One firefighter has served since he was 18 years old. He is now 39 and will miss out because the scheme starts for those aged 40, so he will have to work for 42 years rather than 30 years. The watch want to know whether any consideration has been given to the scheme in operation for the police, which takes into account length of service rather than age.
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)
T9. This winter, my constituents struggled not only with the destruction of river flooding, but with the revolting effects of foul-water flooding and inadequate drainage. We have a severe housing shortage, so it is right that we should be building houses, but this must not make the situation any worse. What steps is the Minister taking to strengthen consultation with water companies during the planning process, and will he meet me and local representatives to discuss the matter?
Nick Boles
I am sure everybody in the House can imagine just how horrible it must be for their own home to be affected by their drains backing up. Of course it is important that every local authority consults, as they are statutorily required to do, with water companies when they draw up their local plans. I would of course be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and any of her constituents to discuss any particular case.
Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)
The welcome written statement released today says Ministers “have long been concerned” about Tower Hamlets. Will the Secretary of State agree that Tower Hamlets was an improving and in many ways well-run council between 1994 and 2010, and confirm that the period under inspection is from 2010 and therefore that the concern of Ministers and others is a relatively recent phenomenon?
Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)
If a council gave planning permission for 2,600 homes on sites with a £10 billion development value and not one was an additional home for social rent, while selling off council homes on the open market when they became vacant, with more than 10,000 families in housing need in the borough, would that worry the Secretary of State?
Nick Boles
I would never presume to comment on a particular application, or the measures contained in a particular application, that a directly elected local council has seen fit to approve.
Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)
Last week, Malvern Hills district council approved planning for 67 homes adjacent to my constituency, despite objections from me, from Wyre Forest district council, from Stourport town council and from Astley and Dunley parish council. Those homes have a significant impact on resources for Stourport-on-Severn and Wyre Forest, yet section 106 payments and council tax will be going to Malvern Hills district council. Does the Minister share the frustration of Stourport residents? What steps is he taking to ensure that residents are properly heard when decisions are made that have asymmetric cross-border implications?
Nick Boles
I will be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the matter, with any other representatives he would like to bring.
Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)
Does the Secretary of State share my disappointment that, despite North Lincolnshire Homes urging it to change its policy better to support tenants in difficulty, Conservative North Lincolnshire council has spent only 17% of its discretionary housing payments? Consequently, local people who have been hit by the Government’s bedroom tax and are unable to move continue to suffer.
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)
The Minister said earlier that local plans and examinations can be considered as part of any appeal. Constituencies such as mine, however, are not quite at that stage. My council and local neighbourhood forum are still developing their plans, but they are seeing developers use this interim period to get permission on important strategic sites. What assurances can he give my constituents, who have put a considerable number of hours into this work, that their efforts will not be in vain and that they will not see important sites swallowed up on appeal?
Nick Boles
I know that my hon. Friend’s authority is working to deliver a very ambitious plan, which takes time and needs to be underpinned by the necessary evidence. No application should be granted if it is in conflict with the sustainability policies in the national planning policy framework. Even in the absence of a local plan, there are all the protections of the national planning policy framework on transport, environment and other sustainability issues to ensure that unsustainable development is not allowed.