Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the Department's long-term strategy is for enabling local communities to save valued community assets from deterioration.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through the English Devolution Bill, we are committed to legislate for a ‘right to buy’, giving local people stronger powers to secure and preserve valued community assets if they come up for sale.
We are also committed to regenerating our country’s neighbourhoods. As the chancellor announced at the spending review the government will be supporting communities with funding for up to 350 places. More details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help local authorities in rural areas effectively use compulsory purchase orders to bring derelict buildings back into community use.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities have various compulsory purchase powers which they can use to acquire and develop derelict or empty properties. To assist them in the use of their powers, the government has implemented the package of reforms in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to streamline and modernise the compulsory purchase order (CPO) process and clarify that local authorities’ CPO powers can be used to deliver regeneration in their areas. Further reforms to improve the CPO process and land compensation rules have been included in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We also publish guidance on the compulsory purchase process to help local authorities understand and use their powers.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the operating costs are for Mayoral Combined Authorities for (a) the 2025-26 and (b) each of the next five financial years.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The costs for operating Mayoral Combined Authorities can vary depending on their size, the responsibilities they exercise, and local political and financial decisions. Mayoral Combined Authorities are best placed to make assessments of the allocation of funding towards these costs. The government does not hold estimates of future operating costs. Mayoral Combined Authorities’ financial information can be found in their published, annual budgets.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to tackle pockets of deprivation in rural local authority areas.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement begins to fix the foundations of local government by targeting additional funding to places with greatest need and demand for services (using deprivation as a proxy for this), and less ability to raise income locally, through a new Recovery Grant, worth £600 million. Through the Settlement, places with a significant rural population will on average receive almost a 6% increase in their Core Spending Power next year, which is a real terms increase.
Broader redistribution of funding will follow from 2026-27 and we are committed to fundamentally reforming how we assess need to ensure funding is distributed to where it is needed most. The government will use the best available evidence to assess differences in the need for local government services – including deprivation – and resources available to local authorities.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to increase the (a) skills and (b) capacity of planning authorities in rural areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country, including in rural areas, are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 25 February, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which was introduced on 11 March includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support the renovation of (a) village halls and (b) community centres.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Community centres and village halls are important parts of our social fabric in towns and villages across the UK.
Through the English Devolution Bill, we will introduce a new Community Right to Buy to help local people acquire valued community spaces, which will help to bring them back into use and rejuvenate high streets across the country.
We have also announced a further £750,000 as a 1-year extension to the £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund for 2025/2026. This will support the modernisation or improvement of village hall facilities by providing capital grants between £2000 and £75,000, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of eligible project costs. Since 2022, it has supported 142 large projects (£7,500 to £75,000) and 90 small projects (£2000 to £5000).
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to encourage developers to use design features that provide nesting facilities for endangered birds.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 22080 on 15 January 2025.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support park home owners.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 39735 on 27 March 2025.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding her Department has provided to help support the operation of mayoral combined authorities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Details of funding provided to Mayoral Combined Authorities is published each year in annual devolution reports and can be accessed on gov.uk.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to support park home residents with the cost of utilities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Park home residents on low incomes are eligible for support with their household bills. The government has extended the Household Support Fund in England until 31 March 2026 with an extra £742 million in support, with additional funding for the Devolved Governments.
Park home residents are also eligible for a one-off £150 discount off electricity bills under the Warm Home Discount scheme. The payment is in addition to other payments such as the Cold Weather Payment and Winter Fuel Payment.
Any park home resident who is struggling with their energy bills contracts can contact their local authority to see what support they can receive.
The government’s mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently, including park home residents. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run, is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.