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Written Question
Planning Permission: Appeals
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the (a) total and (b) average cost of processing planning appeals per appeal type in each of the last three financial years.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The information requested is published as part of the Planning Inspectorate’s Annual Report and Accounts and can be found at the following links:

20/21 Planning_Inspectorate_ARA_2020-21_FINAL.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

21/22 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2021-22.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

22/23 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2022-23.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)


Written Question
Leasehold
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of leaseholders in (a) Witham constituency, (b) Essex and (c) England.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The department publishes an annual estimate of Leasehold dwellings in England. The most recent data (2021-22) shows there were an estimated 4.98 million leasehold dwellings in England. In the South East, there were an estimated 696,000 leasehold dwellings. Due to methodological limitations, the statistics cannot show robust estimates at a sub-regional level. The data are published on gov.uk here: Leasehold dwellings.


Written Question
Land: Registration
Wednesday 14th June 2023

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance standards of HM Land Registry in providing the service for the registration of land for the first time.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

Applications to register land for the first time account for approximately 0.3% of all applications HM Land Registry (HMLR) receives and are one of its most complex application types. HMLR publishes information on GOV.UK about its latest processing times here.

Currently, half of first registration applications are completed in just over 13 months, and almost all are completed in just over 14 months. A small number can take longer, depending on the application details. Any application that is urgent can be expedited free of charge and 95% of these are completed within 10 days.

Improving speed of service is the top priority for HMLR and it is addressing this urgently through a combination of recruitment, training, and automation. It also has specialist teams focussing on the oldest complex cases with a specific goal to reduce the processing times for these applications


Further to the Prime Minister’s written statement of 23 May 2023 (HCWS803) sponsorship of HM Land Registry and its associated bodies has moved to DLUHC. This will aid the delivery of DLUHC’s key policy objectives including improving the home buying and selling process and delivering the land transparency provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.


Written Question
Leasehold: Service Charges
Wednesday 14th June 2023

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what action he is taking to help support leaseholders to contest charges levied by property management companies.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

We are committed to better protecting and empowering leaseholders by giving them more information on the things for which their charges pay. We will legislate to ensure service charges are transparent and communicated effectively, removing barriers to challenge when things go wrong. This will help leaseholders more effectively challenge their landlord if they consider their fees are unreasonable. We are due to bring forward further leasehold reforms later in this Parliament.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Listed Buildings
Friday 2nd December 2022

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will undertake a review of (a) paragraph 202 of the National Planning Policy Framework and (b) associated guidance on planning applications for the replacement of existing windows with uPVC windows in dwellings that are heritage assets due to their being (i) listed buildings and (ii) located in a conservation area; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring decision-makers to consider the impact of the replacement of windows on the (A) environment, (B) carbon footprint of the dwelling, (C) health of the dwelling’s occupants and (D) prevention of mould.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy, published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and I have asked officials to look at a range of issues, including uPVC, to help inform work on this.


Written Question
Housing: Coronavirus and Inflation
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the covid-19 pandemic and (b) global inflation on the delivery of housing sites in England; and whether he has made an assessment of the impact of those factors on the five-year housing supply position of local authorities.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Despite the pandemic, housebuilders were able to deliver over 216,000 homes in England in 2020/21. Nonetheless, the Government made changes to two housing delivery tests, to mitigate disruption caused to housing delivery.

The Government recognises rising materials prices have created a challenging environment for many construction businesses, including in housebuilding, and especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. We continue to work closely with firms in the sector through the Construction Leadership Council Product Availability Group, to monitor product, material availability and mitigate the impact of price increases.

We have committed to publishing our vision for the new National Planning Policy Framework which includes our position on planning for housing.

We have set out our intention to remove the requirement for authorities to maintain a five-year housing land supply, where their plan is up to date. This will curb perceived 'speculative development', so long as plans are kept up to date.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will undertake a review of his Department's policy on the five year supply of deliverable housing sites to ensure that it takes account of economic factors affecting housebuilding; and if he will provide local planning authorities with more flexibility in the National Planning Policy Framework to protect sites from development where there is an absence of a five year supply of deliverable housing sites.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Despite the pandemic, housebuilders were able to deliver over 216,000 homes in England in 2020/21. Nonetheless, the Government made changes to two housing delivery tests, to mitigate disruption caused to housing delivery.

The Government recognises rising materials prices have created a challenging environment for many construction businesses, including in housebuilding, and especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. We continue to work closely with firms in the sector through the Construction Leadership Council Product Availability Group, to monitor product, material availability and mitigate the impact of price increases.

We have committed to publishing our vision for the new National Planning Policy Framework which includes our position on planning for housing.

We have set out our intention to remove the requirement for authorities to maintain a five-year housing land supply, where their plan is up to date. This will curb perceived 'speculative development', so long as plans are kept up to date.


Written Question
Housing Infrastructure Fund: Essex
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to make a decision on Housing Infrastructure Fund bids relating to Essex.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

We have so far announced nine successful Forward Funding schemes, worth more than £1.3 billion, to unlock up to 76,000 homes. All remaining bids are in assessment. Local authorities will be notified of the outcome of their bids in the coming months.


Written Question
Housing Infrastructure Fund: Essex
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether Homes England has made an assessment of the Housing Infrastructure Fund bids relating to Essex; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

We have so far announced nine successful Forward Funding schemes, worth more than £1.3 billion, to unlock up to 76,000 homes. All remaining bids are in assessment. Local authorities will be notified of the outcome of their bids in the coming months.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Hatfield Peverel
Monday 15th July 2019

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the three planning decisions announced on 8 July 2019 for two sites in Hatfield Peverel, for what reasons (a) the decision was made to remove 10 sites from the Braintree District Council five-year supply position and (b) there was no consultation with interested parties on those planning applications prior to removing those 10 sites; and if he will publish all relevant correspondence and representations he received regarding those 10 sites.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

In reaching his decisions on these cases, the Secretary of State took into account the wide range of issues raised, based on the detailed findings of the planning inspector who held an inquiry into these cases, and the further representations made by the various parties. The decision letters set out in detail the Secretary of State’s reasoning and conclusions. They can be found on the Department's website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/planning-applications-called-in-decisions-and-recovered-appeals

Now that the decisions have been issued the Secretary of State has no further jurisdiction in these matters, and it would not be appropriate for Ministers to comment further on the reasons for the decisions or the merits of the schemes. Annexed to each decision letter is a schedule of all representations and correspondence received since the close of the inquiry, together with details about how copies of this material may be obtained.