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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many new home builds have been (a) started and (b) completed in (i) Coventry North East constituency and (ii) Coventry in each of the last five years; and what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the rate of home building in those areas.

Statistics on new build housing starts and completions in each local authority area, including Coventry, are published every quarter by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building.

We supported the industry throughout the pandemic by enabling construction sites to remain open and operate safely in line with public guidance. This meant house builders were able to deliver over 216,000 homes in England in 2020/21, well above the 186,500 forecasted for the UK as a whole by the OBR in November last year. This shows great resilience despite the huge challenges faced.

West Midlands Combined Authority were awarded £108 million from the £400 million Brownfield Housing Fund, empowering and supporting the Mayor to bring forward the redevelopment of brownfield sites across the region.