Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support constituents in applying for community funding via the schemes administered by his Department.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
At Budget, the UK Government launched three new investment programmes to support communities across the country.
The UK Community Renewal Fund aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches and will invest in skills, community and place, local business and supporting people into employment. Details on how to apply can be found in the prospectus published at Budget. In Great Britain, the lead authority of each of the 100 priority places will receive capacity funding to help them with the required bid coordination and appraisal for that place.
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK. The prospectus published at Budget provides guidance for local areas on how to submit bids for the first round of funding for projects starting in 2021-22. Capacity funding will also be allocated to the local authorities measured as highest need in England, and all local authorities in Scotland and Wales to build a new relationship with the UK Government. This will support the relevant local authorities to develop bids and ensure that investment is targeted where it is needed most.
The new £150 million Communities Ownership Fund will help ensure that communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can support and continue benefiting from the local facilities, community assets and amenities most important to them. The first bidding round for the Community Ownership Fund will open in June 2021. A full bidding prospectus will be published alongside this, which will be the key reference document for communities in developing and submitting bids
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to build more affordable homes and reduce social housing provider waiting lists.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and is investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, which will leverage up to £38 billion of private finance and provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow.
Approximately 50% of the homes delivered will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder. We will also deliver more than double the homes for social rent compared to the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered.
Furthermore, our £9 billion Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, running to 2023, will deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes.
Since 2010, we've delivered over 517,100 new affordable homes, including over 365,800 affordable homes for rent, of which 148,000 homes for social rent.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what financial support is available to (a) community support groups that meet in premises that form part of places of worship and (b) to support places of worship that have lost income due to having suspended rent payments for community groups that have continued to use their premises during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government recognises the impact that the pandemic has had on a wide range of community and voluntary groups, including faith groups and places of worship.
Throughout the pandemic – even during the most severe periods of national restrictions – the Government has sought to ensure that key support groups, of up to 15 people, have been able to continue to meet in places of worship and other community venues, to provide mutual aid, therapy and other vital forms of support to those most in need.
As part of the response to the impact of COVID-19, the Government made available a package of support specifically for charities and businesses. Places of worship that are also registered charities have been able to apply to a number of these schemes on the basis of being impacted organisations themselves, to support their work delivering community services in response to the pandemic. This included the Government’s £750 million package of support specifically for charities, social enterprises and the voluntary sector. Many places of worship who employ people have also benefitted from the Government’s furlough scheme, which was recently extended to the end of September 2021 where needed.
The Government continues to engage regularly with a range of faith leaders and community groups – including through our Places of Worship Taskforce and regular roundtable meetings with major faith groups - to better understand how the Government can support them to respond to the pressures they face at this time.
I encourage places of worship and community groups to monitor the Government’s web pages that offer information on the schemes currently available, and new schemes when they are launched, such as: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on plans to relocate civil servants from his Department to Wolverhampton.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As we build back better, we are going to revitalise town and city centres and make them great places to live and work, driving investment and new jobs. Wolverhampton is a wonderful city with a proud history and bright future. MHCLG is committed to moving civil service roles out of London and more details of our plans will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the Independent Faith Engagement Review; and when his Department plans to publish the results of that review.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
In October 2019 the Government announced that Colin Bloom had been appointed as the Faith Engagement Adviser at the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government.
As Faith Engagement Adviser, Colin Bloom is leading a review into how the Government should best engage with faith groups in England.
In October 2020 Colin Bloom launched a Call for Evidence, posing a series of questions about the Government’s engagement with faith groups. The Call for Evidence closed on the 11 December and received over 20,000 responses, demonstrating the timely nature of this review.
The review is ongoing, and will be published in summer 2021.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) support the recovery of the construction sector and (b) build new houses in the West Midlands.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The recovery of the construction sector following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a matter for BEIS. However, in respect of the housebuilding sector specifically, my department has:
In addition, the Housing Secretary, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation and Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders have written to the housing industry to make clear that house building – and the supply chains that support it – should continue working securely.
The Government is committed to supporting the supply of new homes, delivering around 244,000 last year; the highest in over 30 years. We are bringing forward an ambitious near £20 billion investment, including our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme which could deliver up to 180,000 new homes for affordable homeownership and rent if economic conditions allow, and over £7 billion over the next four years through our National Home Building Fund, to unlock up to 860,000 homes through the provision of infrastructure and diversifying the market.
This Government is committed to building the homes we need and prioritising brownfield development, particularly for the regeneration of our towns and cities like those across the West Midlands.
In 2018, the Government granted the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) up to £100 million from the Land Fund, backing the Mayor’s commitment to deliver 215,000 homes across the region. The Land Fund supports WMCA to acquire and de-risk land around priority sites, delivering c.8k homes.
We have also awarded WMCA £108 million from the Brownfield Fund, empowering and supporting the Mayor to bring forward the redevelopment of brownfield sites across the region – including Longbridge in Birmingham.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has been made of the potential merits of extending all planning permissions for projects which have been halted due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
To ensure that unimplemented planning permissions and listed building consents do not lapse unnecessarily due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has brought forward measures through the Business and Planning Act 2020 to extend planning permissions in England which have lapsed or are at an increased risk of lapsing during this period. Planning permissions that have lapsed or are due to lapse between 23 March and 31 December 2020 will receive an extension to 1 May 2021. This is an important step in supporting the construction industry and sustaining jobs.
The legislation allows for certain dates to be extended by regulations, including the dates for eligible permissions and the extension period. The use of this power is being kept under review.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of empty shop units in (a) Wolverhampton South West constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is?fully?committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the?impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Since March,?the Government has implemented a range of measures to support commercial property tenants, and help prevent further empty shops. The objective of these measures is to preserve tenants’ businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic and to give time and space to landlords and tenants to agree reasonable adjustments to rent and lease terms,?including terms for the payment of accumulated rent arrears.
Our immediate response to?Covid-19?builds on an ongoing programme of interventions. This includes the £3.6 billion Towns Fund, where we brought forward over £80 million funding this year to support immediate improvements in 101 towns selected for deals. Wolverhampton is shortlisted for the Future High Streets Fund, and was one of 101 towns invited to put together proposals for a town deal.
Government is also providing support through the High Streets Task Force, helping places like Wolverhampton to develop data-driven innovative strategies to tackle issues such as empty properties and connect with relevant experts. The High Streets Task Force is rolling out its expert, training and data offer across the country, and has launched a range of online support.
Government has also recently consulted on further reforms to planning procedures in town centres as set out in the white paper ‘Planning for the Future’, which sets out how Government will streamline and modernise the planning process to be more responsive to community needs and provide more homes in and around town centres and high streets.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department is conducting any reviews or site surveys to investigate whether any brownfield sites could be transformed into nature reserves or green areas.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Each brownfield site has its own characteristics: some brownfield will be important to nature conservation or as green infrastructure. My department does not provide site-specific advice, but our National Planning Policy Framework expects every local authority to identify, protect and enhance wildlife habitat and ecological networks, and seek opportunities to secure accessible green spaces that will benefit the community. There is no presumption that all brownfield sites should be built on. It is the local authority which is best placed to determine what purposes a particular site should serve, after consulting local people and, where appropriate, expert bodies such as Natural England or the Wildlife Trusts.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of converting brownfield sites into green spaces and parks.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The National Planning Policy Framework (2019) makes it clear that high-quality open space and accessible green infrastructure are vital for our physical and mental health. Each piece of previously developed land has its own characteristics, and the Government expects local authorities, in consultation with local people, to consider and plan how a particular brownfield site might best be re-used. Some brownfield sites have taken on importance as wildlife habitat, which should be protected and enhanced; other brownfield may be in the right location for a new park. Our focus is on using as much suitable brownfield as possible for new homes in layouts and settings that incorporate, from the outset, new green space, trees and other green infrastructure. Best practice is illustrated in the recent National Design Guide to creating beautiful, enduring and successful places.
In October 2019 the Secretary of State announced a £1.35 million investment in a new Pocket Parks programme, and we provided funding to 68 successful applicants. Covid-19 has delayed some action by applicants, but the Department has now given backing to 352 pocket parks in total. The funding allows recipient groups to transform neglected urban spaces – not just brownfield but other unused and unloved plots of land - into thriving green havens the whole community can enjoy.
In the last two years we have also made more than £16 million available to support parks and green spaces including: