Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of high property prices on the availability of social housing in rural constituencies.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Details of future government investment will be brought forward at the Spending Review. In addition, our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework sought views on the best approach for supporting affordable housing developments within rural areas. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure there is adequacy supply of social housing in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Details of future government investment will be brought forward at the Spending Review. In addition, our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework sought views on the best approach for supporting affordable housing developments within rural areas. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Portland Incinerator on local infrastructure in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The full reasons for the decision to grant the permission in question are set out in the published decision letter and Inspector’s Report. The Inspector’s Report provides a complete list of the evidence which was before the Inquiry. Having issued this decision, the Secretary of State has no further jurisdiction in the matter, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024, to Question 1010 on Housing: Northstowe, what the site specific reasons that the project was stalled are.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Accelerator, in partnership with Homes England, will support the delivery of Phase 2 of the Northstowe scheme in Cambridgeshire, unlocking 3,000 homes and continuing to progress proposals to unlock a further 2,600 homes in Phase 3.
As a result of issues relating to the planning process and delivery partners, Homes England will be taking a stronger leadership and delivery role to make sure that the quality of delivery matches the aspirations of the local community. This phase will include putting the new town centre in place. Homes England is entering into in a new partnership agreement with the private sector to support delivery of the next stage of the scheme. The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support.
The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support, through an in-house team consisting of senior multi-disciplinary built environment professionals.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024, to Question 1010, on Housing: Northstowe, if she will set out the remit of the accelerator taskforce.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The New Homes Accelerator, in partnership with Homes England, will support the delivery of Phase 2 of the Northstowe scheme in Cambridgeshire, unlocking 3,000 homes and continuing to progress proposals to unlock a further 2,600 homes in Phase 3.
As a result of issues relating to the planning process and delivery partners, Homes England will be taking a stronger leadership and delivery role to make sure that the quality of delivery matches the aspirations of the local community. This phase will include putting the new town centre in place. Homes England is entering into in a new partnership agreement with the private sector to support delivery of the next stage of the scheme. The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support.
The department will also provide enhanced planning capacity support, through an in-house team consisting of senior multi-disciplinary built environment professionals.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of the homes her Department aims to build during this Parliament will be affordable; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that these homes meet the needs of communities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and we will update Parliament on our progress. Our proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework aim to ensure that decisions about what to build and where are based on delivering the housing an area needs.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans her Department has to ensure that a regulatory impact assessment for the Renters' Rights Bill will include an assessment of that Bill's (a) cumulative potential impact on and (b) potential interaction with the (i) changes to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for the private renter sector announced on 23 September 2024 and (ii) technical detail of the Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government submitted the Impact Assessment for the Renters’ Rights Bill on 16 September 2024 to the Regulatory Policy Committee and we will publish it in due course. The Government has announced its intention to publish a consultation on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector by the end of the year. Measures to set a decent home standard in the Private Rented Sector are included in the Renters’ Rights Bill and we have made clear we intend to consult on this. The impacts for private landlords will be considered in the respective Impact Assessments.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will publish the findings of Lord Banner KC's review of national infrastructure projects.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We intend to publish the review in question in due course.
Asked by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 25 July 2024 to Question 1007 on Planning Authorities: Staff, how the 300 planners her Department plans to hire over the next five years will be funded.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department continues to assess options for delivering 300 additional planning officers to ensure their recruitment supports the quality of local planning services, proposed reforms to the system, housebuilding priorities and our manifesto commitments. The recruitment will be overseen by the Department’s dedicated Planning Capacity and Capability team under the Chief Planner in MHCLG, in addition to its wider work to support local planning authorities.
This work includes funding the recruitment of new graduates into local planning authorities across England, and their professional training, through Pathways to Planning; as well as the national roll out of the Public Practice associate programme, which brings mid-career professionals into local authority employment to fill skill gaps in areas such as urban design.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 make it her policy to introduce a national minimum requirement for developers to build social rent homes as part of medium and large developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and we recently consulted on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework to support this objective. Specifically, the consultation proposed setting an expectation that local housing needs assessments explicitly consider the needs of those requiring Social Rent, and that local planning authorities specify their expectations on Social Rent delivery as part of broader affordable housing policies.
The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year. We have also committed to strengthening the existing developer contributions system and further details will be set out in due course.