Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to support the creation of new (a) pocket parks and (b) other recreational spaces.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up White Paper is clear that green infrastructure is a key component to levelling up, as so many levelling up goals are connected to green places that local people can be proud of.
Which is why my department has partnered with DEFRA to deliver the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund to support over 100 new or significantly refurbished green spaces across the UK. This is not another round of funding the Pocket Parks programme. This scheme will be far broader; it will support councils through revenue and capital funding and will focus on the regeneration of green space as part of our Levelling Up agenda. In England, grants will be given to, and administered by, local authorities who will be notified of their eligibility when the Fund launches.
My department has also set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space, sport and recreation facilities and opportunities for new provision. The NPPF is clear that open space should not be built on unless there is clear evidence it is no longer required, or equivalent or better provision is secured. Communities can designate land for Local Green Space through local and neighbourhood plans, ensuring green areas of particular importance to them are protected.
My department have also set out in the National Design Guide that well-designed places have a hierarchy of spaces that range from large and strategic to small and local spaces, including parks, squares, greens and pocket parks. The National Model Design Code sets out that design codes can specify levels of green infrastructure provision and guidance on design within new development, and cover everything from country parks to green roofs and street trees.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress he has made on the creation of affordable homes in the (a) West Midlands and (b) UK.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Since 2010, we have delivered over 574,100 new affordable homes, including over 403,400 affordable homes for rent, of which over 154,600 homes for social rent. Between 2010 and 2021 over 57,000 affordable homes were built in the West Midlands, including over 42,985 affordable homes for rent, of which 18,098 were for social rent
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. Around half the homes will be for affordable and social rent and we will deliver more than double the amount of social rent compared to the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered
In August 2021 we announced £8.6 billion of allocations for this programme, which will deliver 119,000 affordable homes. £568 million of this will be going to the West Midlands to deliver over 10,500 affordable homes.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure that new housing developments deliver the infrastructure that communities require.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
It is important that new housing development is supported by the provision of infrastructure and appropriate services. Local authorities have responsibilities for planning for local development and the infrastructure to support it.
Where new development is proposed, contributions from developers play an important role in delivering the infrastructure to support communities and local economies. Local planning authorities can use the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 planning obligations (together called ‘developer contributions’) to secure funding from new development to contribute towards the delivery of infrastructure.
However, the existing developer contributions regime is discretionary, subject to negotiation and renegotiations based on developers’ viability assessment.
The Government has proposed to introduce a new ‘Infrastructure Levy’, to replace the existing system of developer contributions, which aims to capture a greater share of the uplift in land value that comes with development. Through the Levy, local authorities will have greater flexibility to determine how contributions are spent to shape and support both existing and new communities.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure that property agents are (a) suitably qualified and (b) accountable to leaseholders.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for tenants and homeowners and making sure that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst property agents (letting, estate and managing agents), protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives. We therefore welcome the ongoing work being undertaken by the industry itself to raise professionalism and standards across the sector, including on codes of practice for property agents.
The Government is considering the recommendations in the final report on the regulation of property agents from Lord Best’s working group, including on qualifications. We will continue to work with industry on improving best practice.
Leaseholders have a range of powers to hold a property agent to account. They may complain directly to the agent, and then to the relevant Government-approved redress scheme to which a property agent must belong. They may also apply for an Order to the First-tier Tribunal under Section 24 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 to change their managing agent if they are unhappy with the service that they are receiving.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to encourage local planning authorities to adopt a brownfield first housing policy.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to make the most of brownfield land for development. Local authorities are best placed to assess potential sites, and each authority now publishes a register of brownfield suitable for new homes. We have introduced Permission in Principle, an extra route to planning permission for land on these registers, giving certainty from the outset that the principles of a redevelopment scheme are acceptable.
This Government is putting significant investment into brownfield redevelopment through the £4.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, the £4.95 billion Home Building Fund, and the £400 million Brownfield Housing Fund. Local authorities not eligible for support from the latter have been able to bid for assistance from the £75 million Brownfield Land Release Fund. This is designed to unlock brownfield sites and release serviced plots on local authority owned land. At Spending Review 2021, the Government announced a £1.8 billion package of investment to regenerate communities and level up the country, unlocking up to 160,000 new homes in total. There is tax relief on work to decontaminate land, and we have reformed permitted development and Use Class rules so yet more homes can be created on previously developed land.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce social housing waiting lists.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Local authorities have freedom to set their own criteria determining who qualifies for social housing in their district, and how this is delivered. In doing so, they must ensure that reasonable preference (overall priority) for social housing is given to certain categories of people in housing need, including homeless households, people living in overcrowded housing, and those who have medical and welfare needs.
We are investing in new affordable homes. Our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. This builds upon the success of our £9 billion Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, running to 2023, which will deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes.
To further support local authorities to deliver new homes, we have given them more freedom on how they can spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales on replacement homes. This, combined with the removal of the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap in 2018 and continued access to low cost borrowing via the Public Works Loan Board, gives local authorities greater flexibility to invest in new homes.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to protect residents from excessive increases in council tax payments.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Council tax levels are set by local authorities, although the Secretary of State determines referendum principles to ensure that residents can have the final say over excessive increases. The provisional local government finance settlement will set out full details of the proposed referendum principles for 2022-23. The settlement and referendum principles will be subject to agreement by Parliament in the usual way. Local authorities maintain locally designed council tax support schemes to help people facing financial difficulty.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is a sufficient local provision of graveyards and cemeteries in place and that those sites are kept maintained and secure.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Department does not hold data on the local provision of graveyards and cemeteries. Local authorities play a vital role in providing essential services to their communities, and they are best placed to determine local provision.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department has taken to (a) increase the number of conservation areas and (b) protect those areas from excessive development.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The designation of conservation areas is a matter for local planning authorities. They are required by law to determine from time to time whether any part of their area should be designated as a conservation area. The planning system protects conservation areas in a number of ways – as designated heritage assets, the National Planning Policy Framework gives them strong policy protections; the demolition of unlisted buildings within them requires planning permission; permitted development rights (which allow certain development without a planning application) are more restricted and there are protections for trees within them.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what initiatives have been put in place to support urban areas to develop allotments and community gardening initiatives.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government recognises through our National Planning Policy Framework the important role that allotments can provide in enabling and supporting healthy lifestyles within our communities. The Framework is clear that local planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space and opportunities for new provision, which can include allotments, and their plans should then seek to accommodate this.
Our National Model Design Code states that as part of open space design for large developments there should be the consideration of allotments and community growing projects for food production, learning and community engagement.