To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


View sample alert

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Housing: Construction
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the study entitled Stepping Off the Road to Nowhere, published by Create Streets and Sustrans on 19 December 2023, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of adapting the funding model for new homes to incorporate gentle density and sustainable transport principles.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government is committed to supporting the development of high quality, well designed and sustainable communities through the construction of new homes and, where appropriate, the regeneration of towns and cities across the country.

Homes England’s Strategic Plan has a Strategic Objective focused on promoting the creation of high-quality homes in well-designed places. The Agency uses Building for a Healthy Life, a design toolkit for neighbourhoods, streets, homes and public spaces, which covers twelve different considerations including density and sustainable transport.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Standards
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

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 with local authorities to improve the time taken to process planning applications.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

We are taking action to speed up determinations for planning applications in a number of ways. Reforms in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act seek to streamline the development management process and support decisions which are timely, transparent, and of high quality.

The Government has also recently increased planning fees and provided a range of new funding streams through the Government’s capacity and capability programme, including the £29 million Planning Skills Delivery Fund to provide local planning authorities with additional resources needed to deliver a high quality and timely planning service.

In addition to this, on 6 March the Government launched an Accelerated Planning Service consultation. This sets out measures to offer a new application route with accelerated decision dates for major commercial applications and fee refunds wherever these are not met. It also includes measures to more closely monitor the performance of local planning authorities in making decisions within statutory periods rather than using extension of time agreements.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Reform
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16913 on Planning Permission: Reform and with reference to the consultation entitled Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, published on 22 December 2022, and paragraph 35(a) of the National Planning Policy Framework, published in December 2023, if he will publish the justification for retaining 'and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development' in that Framework.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 16908 on 11 March 2024.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Reform
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the consultation entitled Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, published on 22 December 2022, and to paragraph 35(a) of the National Planning Policy Framework, published in December 2023, for what reason the words 'and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development' were not removed from that Framework.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

I refer the Hon Member to the written statement made by my Rt Hon Friend The Secretary of State (HCWS161) and the revisions made to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on 19th December 2023.


Written Question
Conservation Areas and National Parks: Permitted Development Rights
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis has been carried out of the impact of proposals to extend Permitted Development Rights in National Parks and other Protected Landscapes for the conversion of barns and other rural buildings to residential use, including analysis of whether this would conflict with the statutory purposes to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government has consulted on proposals to extend permitted development rights to support housing delivery and the agricultural sector. This includes proposals to extend permitted development rights to allow farmers to convert agricultural buildings like barns to houses in national parks and other protected landscapes. We are currently analysing responses to this consultation, which closed on 25 September 2023. This includes consideration of whether this PDR extension would conflict with the statutory purposes of protected landscapes.

National Parks and National Landscapes represent our shared heritage and support our nation’s health and wellbeing. They are also crucial to delivering our commitments to tackle climate change and restore nature. To support them in this role we introduced measures in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 placing a stronger requirement on partners to deliver on the statutory purposes of these areas.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their plan to build 300,000 new homes a year, what steps they are taking to achieve this in 2024.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Government remains committed to our ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year and the four highest rates of net additional housing supply in 30 years have all come since 2018. The National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) is clear that a core purpose of the planning system is planning for the homes and other development that our communities need.

With both the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act and the new Framework now in place, alongside the additional resources for planning departments the Government has recently announced, our planning reforms will accelerate the delivery of new homes.

The changes to the Framework create clear incentives for authorities to get their local plans in place. We remain committed to a plan-led system and national planning policy expects local planning authorities to make sufficient provision for housing and to identify the sites to deliver homes to meet the needs of their communities.

If Local authorities are not making sufficient progress, the Secretary of State will consider using his powers of intervention to ensure timetables and plans are put in place.


Written Question
Housing: Construction
Monday 5th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government in which years since 1945 they estimate that 300,000 houses or more houses were built in England.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Housebuilding is a priority for this Government. The Government is on track to meet its manifesto commitment to deliver a million homes over this Parliament. Since April 2010, over 2.5 million additional homes have been delivered, and the four highest annual rates of housing supply in 30 years have all come since 2018. Last year for example we saw delivered 234,400 net additional homes, which is over 75% towards the Government’s aspiration to see 300,000 new homes a year. But we recognise there is more to do.

There are numerous measures that are being delivered as part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the National Planning Policy Framework reforms, and future supporting policy and legislation to increase housebuilding. These measures aim to reduce planning delays, bureaucracy, slow build-out rates, and wider barriers to development. We have reformed rules around CPO and Hope Value. We are also introducing a new Infrastructure Levy which will reform the existing system of developer contributions, made up of Section 106 planning obligations and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The Government is committed to the delivery of on-site affordable housing through this Levy, and to delivering at least as much, if not more, affordable housing than the current system does.

As the Secretary of State set out in his speech in December, putting plan making at the heart of the planning system will help drive a new wave of housebuilding, and the Government is working intensively to support densification in the hearts of our inner cities. A reformed planning system will help bring certainty to communities and developers, enabling them to take positive steps in building more housing, regenerating their local areas, and supporting economic growth.

Annual estimates of building control reported new build dwelling completions, in England, for the period from 1946 to 2022, show that 300,000 or more dwellings were built in each year from 1964 to 1969. In these years there was a mix of new private and social housing built, including by many SMEs builders.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: North West
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)

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 address the shortage of social housing in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire, and (c) the North West.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

It is for local authorities to identify the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing, and reflect this in planning and other policies.

This Government continues to be fully committed to increasing the supply of social and affordable housing. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country, including social rent.

Local authorities themselves can deliver new affordable housing. We have given them greater flexibilities in their Housing Revenue Account as to how they spend their Right to Buy receipts and implemented a preferential borrowing rate for council housebuilding from the Public Works Loan Board, which has now been extended to June 2025.

Local authorities can also use Section 106 planning obligations to secure affordable housing and infrastructure required to mitigate the impacts of new development and support sustainable growth. The new Infrastructure Levy will aim to secure at least as much if not more, affordable housing than the current system of developer contributions. This will be secured through regulations and policy, supported by provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.


Written Question
Social Rented Housing: North West
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will commit to providing more funding to local authorities to increase the availability of social-rented housing in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire, and (c) the North West.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

It is for local authorities to identify the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing, and reflect this in planning and other policies.

This Government continues to be fully committed to increasing the supply of social and affordable housing. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country, including social rent.

Local authorities themselves can deliver new affordable housing. We have given them greater flexibilities in their Housing Revenue Account as to how they spend their Right to Buy receipts and implemented a preferential borrowing rate for council housebuilding from the Public Works Loan Board, which has now been extended to June 2025.

Local authorities can also use Section 106 planning obligations to secure affordable housing and infrastructure required to mitigate the impacts of new development and support sustainable growth. The new Infrastructure Levy will aim to secure at least as much if not more, affordable housing than the current system of developer contributions. This will be secured through regulations and policy, supported by provisions in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.


Written Question
Roads: Midlands
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, whether the 10 new smaller Midlands road projects have entered the Road Improvement Strategy (a) programme and (b) development stage; whether formal approvals have been granted; and whether it will progress into the next strategy phase.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

All of these schemes are being promoted for consideration for potential funding as part of the Department’s Major Road Network/ Large Local Majors (MRN/ LLM) programme. None of the schemes will form part of the Government's Road Investment Strategy.

The position with each scheme is set out in the following table:

Scheme name

Cost

Completion date

Next business case stage

A511 Growth Corridor

£62.72m

January 2027

Full Business Case

A614/A6097 Corridor scheme

£34.44m

December 2026

Full Business Case

North Hykeham Relief Road

£193.71m

November 2028

Full Business Case

A509 Isham Bypass

£111.31m

December 2027

Outline Business Case

Chesterfield – Staveley Regeneration Route

£166.40m

November 2027

Outline Business Case

A43 Northampton – Kettering phase 3

£28.58m

June 2028

Strategic Outline Case

Shrewsbury North Western Relief Road

Tbc – subject to Shropshire Council’s procurement exercise

October 2026

Full Business Case

A4123 Birchley Island

£30.13m

December 2026

Full Business Case

A426/A4071 Avon Mill/Hunters Lane improvements

£24.28m

August 2026

Outline Business Case

A454 between Wolverhampton and East Park Gateway

£53.38m

September 2027

Outline Business Case

The table provides the latest cost estimate and completion date provided to the Department. These may be subject to change.

A conditional offer of funding for a scheme is made by the Department upon approval of an Outline Business Case. Final confirmation of funding is made upon approval of a Final Business Case.