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1465246

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Green Belt and Vacant Land: Planning Permission
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to urgently introduce statutory protections to protect green belt and greenfield sites from speculative developments before wider planning reforms are introduced in the Levelling Up Bill.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	8168
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The increased weight given to plans and national policy in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will give more assurance that areas of environmental importance - such as National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and areas at high risk of flooding - will be respected in decisions on planning applications and appeals. The same is true of the Green Belt, which will continue to be safeguarded. <br> <br> The National Planning Policy Framework already sets out strong protections for Green Belt land, and also expects local authorities to recognise and enhance the importance of biodiversity, valued landscapes and agricultural soils, and the character and beauty of the countryside. Local authorities should give priority to re-use of suitable brownfield land wherever practicable and sustainable. <br> <br> These protections in national planning policy are to remain firmly in place, and by 2023 will be further reinforced by the biodiversity net gain requirements introduced through the Environment Act 2021. We will pursue options to make the Green Belt even greener.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:11:28 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1465381

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Help to Buy Scheme: Solihull
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will publish the data it holds on the number of households in the Solihull constituency that have benefited from his Department's Help to Buy scheme.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	8026
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>Between 1 April 2013 and 31 December 2021 1,112 homes were purchased in Solihull using the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme.</p><p>Further data on the number of households in England which have benefitted from the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme (including households in the Solihull constituency) can be found in the latest HtB Equity Loan scheme statistics: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fhelp-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-december-2021%2Fhelp-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-december-2021&amp;data=05%7C01%7CParliamentary%40levellingup.gov.uk%7C8a8dac19cf25440b865408da43cffd23%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637896857821720663%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=JrEduqfL62kr1fMhQLXJZtgXXRgvDe5oQDOPMcXOeec%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-december-2021/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-december-2021</a></p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:07:48 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1465429

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Travellers: Sutton
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he has held discussions with representatives of the London Borough of Sutton on its Gypsy and Traveller site plan due to be submitted in 2022.
tabling member constituency	Carshalton and Wallington
tabling member printed	Elliot Colburn
uin	8183
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has not held discussions with representatives of the London Borough of Sutton on its Gypsy and Traveller site plan. Due to his quasi-judicial role in the planning system he is unable to comment on specific development plans or their content.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:11:52 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4775 label Biography information for Elliot Colburn

1465451

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Housing: Construction
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the timely delivery of house building programmes by local authorities in areas that have high housing costs as a result of insufficient supply.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	8058
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>A range of factors influence housing costs, but the supply of housing remains an important one, especially in areas of high demand. We have provided a range of tools that support councils to address the housing needs in their areas, including delivering their own housing programmes. This includes our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, £4 billion of which has been allocated to the Greater London Authority to bring forward homes in London, and more freedom in how councils can spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales. On top of the abolition of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap in 2018, allowing councils greater flexibility in their borrowing to build more homes.</p><p>Furthermore the £1.8 billion Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund package announced in 2021 to regenerate underused land and level up the country will support local authorities (and Mayoral Combined Authorities) to bring brownfield land into use; and, building on the success of the first round of Land Release Fund where £45 million was allocated to 73 local authorities - releasing land for more than 6,500 homes - we launched a further £20 million worth of investment unlocking 2,600 additional homes.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:07:19 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1465454

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Planning: Renewable Energy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps through local planning to ensure that land approved to generate sustainable energy is used to power new build developments including (a) garden villages and (b) towns.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	8059
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government has made steps to ensure land approved to generate sustainable energy is used to power new build developments. National planning policy is clear that strategic policies in Local Plans should make sufficient provision for energy infrastructure (including heat). In particular, the planning system should support renewable and low carbon energy and associated infrastructure and plans should provide a positive strategy for energy from these sources, and identify opportunities for development to draw its energy supply from decentralised, renewable or low carbon energy systems.</p><p>The Government's recent 'British Energy Security Strategy' sets out a series of changes to the planning system to support the delivery of renewable energy infrastructure. This included a commitment to cut the time it takes for offshore wind projects to get planning and regulatory consents. For onshore wind, we will consult this year on developing local partnerships for supportive communities who wish to host new onshore wind infrastructure in return for benefits, including lower energy bills. We will also consult on amending planning rules to strengthen policy in favour of solar development, while ensuring communities continue to have a say and environmental protections remain in place. As part of this we will gather evidence on the use and suitability of the existing permitted development rights which allow for the installation of solar equipment.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:08:38 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1465492

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Affordable Housing: Key Workers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will take steps to build affordable homes to ensure that keyworkers are able to afford homes in their communities.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	8138
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>This Government is determined to make home ownership a reality for hard-working people who are currently priced out of their local area. First Homes are homes which are sold to first-time buyers with a discount of at least 30% from full market value.</p><p>Crucially, the discount will be passed on to all future purchasers in perpetuity, so these homes will keep helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder for generations to come. Beyond the national criteria, local authorities will be able to set local connection and/or key worker criteria for First Homes in their area, based on the needs of their local community.</p><p>Alongside support for key workers purchasing First Homes, we are committed to increasing the overall supply of affordable homes. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver up to 180,000 affordable homes, should economic conditions allow. Approximately half of the homes delivered will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder.</p><p>The Government is committed to increase first-time buyer numbers in all regions, and will do so by looking at all of the factors that influence ownership levels, including housing supply and the availability of low deposit mortgages. We will also explore further options to limit the competition first-time buyers face. This means looking at all of the options available to government to limit the factors which are pricing out local people, seeking to learn from international comparators. In addition to First Homes, this Government runs a range of schemes to help people into home ownership such as the mortgage guarantee scheme, Help to Buy: Equity Loan, Shared Ownership and Lifetime ISA.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:10:34 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1465575

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Buildings: Insulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that property developers are not able to avoid responsibility for cladding and other remedial costs by (a) liquidating, (b) declaring bankruptcy and (c) repurchasing the freehold under a new company.
tabling member constituency	Hampstead and Kilburn
tabling member printed	Tulip Siddiq
uin	8092
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Building Safety Act 2022 provides that where a building's freeholder is - or is linked - to the original developer, they must meet costs associated with historical building safety defects in full and cannot pass on these costs to leaseholders.</p><p>The Act refers to the position as at 14 February 2022, so any future buyer of the freehold will assume the same liabilities of the previous freeholder. As such, freeholders will not be able to simply sell off their buildings or transfer them to new companies to evade liability.</p><p>Should the freeholder declare insolvency, the Act contains provision allowing the appointed insolvency practitioner to apply to the court to require companies associated with the freeholder, such as the parent company, to meet the costs of remediation.</p><p>The Act also grants powers to the High Court and the First-tier Tribunal allowing them to extend specific liabilities for one company to associated companies, preventing developers and freeholders from evading their responsibilities by using complex corporate structures such as special purpose vehicles.</p><p>The Government has agreed with 45 residential property developers that they will fix life-critical fire safety defects, including cladding, in all buildings above 11 metres that they had a role in developing or refurbishing in the past 30 years. In these circumstances, the ownership of the particular property will be irrelevant, as the liability to remediate is with the developer group, even if the particular subsidiary that did the development becomes insolvent.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 01/06/2022 14:09:35 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4518 label Biography information for Tulip Siddiq

1464960

registered interest
date	23/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Flats: Repairs and Maintenance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 6 December 2021 to Question 85168 on Flats: Construction, what safeguards have been put in place to ensure that leaseholders do not have to pay for remedial works to apartment blocks caused by (a) faulty design and workmanship by contractors and (b) inadequate supervision by freeholders; whether he plans to introduce additional safeguards for leaseholders; if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on liability for remedial works of the use of ad hoc limited companies by contractors and freeholders to (i) carry out works and (ii) nominally take over ownership of such blocks after the completion of remedial work; and if he will make it his policy to require planning authorities that permit the construction of additional storeys to existing apartment blocks to conduct annual surveys on the (A) frequency of defective outcomes and (B) implications for existing leaseholders for their (1) costs, (2) property values and (3) quality of life.
tabling member constituency	New Forest East
tabling member printed	Dr Julian Lewis
uin	6662
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/05/2022 answer text <p>The landmark Building Safety Act 2022 delivers robust and far-reaching protections for leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres in height or with at least five storeys from the costs associated with historical building safety defects. A leaseholder qualifies for the protections if, on 14 February 2022, the property was their principal home, or if they owned up to three UK properties in total.</p><p>The Act protects qualifying leaseholders from all costs related to the remediation of unsafe cladding and the costs for remediation of non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches are subject to a firm cap. Once the leaseholder caps have been reached, landlords will be unable to demand further non-cladding costs from leaseholders. Qualifying leaseholders will be protected from costs associated with both shoddy workmanship and faulty design: the protections safeguard against costs associated with any defect that has arisen in the past 30 years because of anything done or not done, or anything used or not used in connection with works to the building that also causes a building safety risk. This includes defects associated with the provision of professional services, for example those of an architect.</p><p>The Act ensures that corporate structures cannot be used to evade liability for building safety defects. Freeholders with links to the building’s original developer, such as where the freeholder is a subsidiary of the developer, will need to meet remediation costs for their buildings in full. As the Act looks at the situation on 14 February 2022, any future buyer of the freehold will assume the same liabilities of the previous freeholder; as such, freeholders will not be able to simply sell off their buildings to evade liability. The Act also grants a power to the High Court allowing them to extend specific liabilities for one company to associated companies, removing the protection afforded to developers and contractors by special purpose vehicles.</p><p>All development, whether allowed through a permitted development right or an application for planning permission, must meet building regulations including fire and other building safety requirements. The Government has no plans at present to review the permitted development rights for building upwards.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 26/05/2022 15:54:28 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	54 label Biography information for Sir Julian Lewis

1465128

registered interest
date	23/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Affordable Housing: Construction
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 2468 on Social Rented Housing: Construction, what the economic conditions are that will need to be met for the Affordable Homes Programme to meet its target of 180,000 new homes; and whether the Government is on track to meet those economic conditions in the next two years.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	6748
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/05/2022 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working with our delivery partners, Homes England and the Greater London Authority, to deliver as many affordable homes as possible through our Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). We work with those partners to keep economic and other factors that could affect home building capacity under close review.</p><p>In August 2021 we announced that we would commit £8.6 billion of the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 to strategic partners who had bid into the programme to deliver 119,000 affordable homes. Bids are still in progress for the remainder of the Affordable Homes Programme funding.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 26/05/2022 15:55:00 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

1465130

registered interest
date	23/05/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Affordable Housing and Social Rented Housing: Construction
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 2468 on Social Rented Housing: Construction, how many of the 180,000 new homes provided under the Affordable Homes Programme will be for affordable and social rent.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	6749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government's £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 is expected to deliver around 32,000 new social rent homes. We have not set a specific target for the numbers of affordable rent homes.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 21/06/2022 16:52:06 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew previous answer version 3425 answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy