Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring developers to ensure that the area of vegetation in developments is at least equal to the area of the site of (a) greenfield, (b) brownfield and (c) open space deficiency sites.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space and should make sufficient provision for and maintain and enhance networks of green infrastructure, which includes areas of vegetation.
Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework helps to define what good green infrastructure ‘looks like’ for local planners, developers, and communities. The Green Infrastructure Framework includes a standard on accessible greenspace which sets criteria on size, proximity and quality.
The government is currently consulting on changes to the NPPF, including a new requirement for local plans to set out standards for green infrastructure, drawing upon Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Standards. These include a standard on accessible greenspace which sets criteria on size, proximity, and quality. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of enclosing motorway systems in noise barriers on the suitability of land for housebuilding.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has no current plans to make such an assessment.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by preventing new and existing development from contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk from, or being adversely affected by, unacceptable levels of noise pollution.
Planning policies and decisions should avoid noise giving rise to significant adverse impacts on health and the quality of life.
It is up to individual local planning authorities to determine what contributions should be sought to assist in mitigating the impact of unacceptable development to make it acceptable in planning terms.
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, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities and the voluntary sector have sufficient resources to deliver the National Plan to End Homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Our National Plan to End Homelessness is backed by £3.5 billion from 2026/27 to 2028/29. Over £3 billion of this funding will be delivered to councils through the multi-year local government finance settlement. We are also providing £37 million through the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund for voluntary, community and faith groups.
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, what steps his Department is taking to reduce out-of-area placements in temporary accommodation; and what support local authorities will receive to help people remain in their local areas, in line with commitments made in the National Plan to End Homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Plan to End Homelessness sets out immediate action to help councils address the most unacceptable forms of homelessness, including our target to end the use of B&B accommodation for families except in emergencies by the end of this parliament. To achieve this target, we will support and drive temporary accommodation models that address specific challenges in local areas and share good practice through an Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme with £30 million funding to tackle a wider range of poor practice – including B&B and unsuitable out-of-area placements.
We will also increase the supply of good-quality, affordable temporary accommodation including through the £950 million fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund.
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, what steps his Department will take to reduce the use of forms of temporary accommodation such as nightly-paid accommodation in line with commitments made in the National Plan to End Homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Plan to End Homelessness sets out immediate action to help councils address the most unacceptable forms of homelessness, including our target to end the use of B&B accommodation for families except in emergencies by the end of this parliament. To achieve this target, we will support and drive temporary accommodation models that address specific challenges in local areas and share good practice through an Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme with £30 million funding to tackle a wider range of poor practice – including B&B and unsuitable out-of-area placements.
We will also increase the supply of good-quality, affordable temporary accommodation including through the £950 million fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's blog post entitled Coverage of our over £1 billion investment to support victims of domestic abuse, published on 15 December 2025, how much and what proportion of the additional funding for the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty will be allocated to local authorities in Norfolk.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to ensuring that victims of domestic abuse have access to the support they need within safe accommodation.
On 20 November, the government announced at least £480 million to support delivery of the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty, followed by an announcement on 15 December of a £19 million uplift. This is part of the government’s action to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls with better support for victims, as set out in the Strategy (Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy - GOV.UK ) published on 18 December.
Provisional allocations for all relevant local authorities, including those in Norfolk, can be found in the government’s published allocation table for the provisional local government finance settlement on gov.uk here. These figures represent minimum allocations for the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty, based on the flat cash value of £480 million. Final allocations, including the £19 million uplift, will be confirmed in the final Local Government Finance Settlement in February.
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, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the placement of homeless families with children alongside single adult households in shared temporary accommodation, in the context of commitments made in the National Plan to End Homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Plan to End Homelessness sets out immediate action to help councils address the most unacceptable forms of homelessness, including our target to end the use of B&B accommodation for families except in emergencies by the end of this parliament. To achieve this target, we will support and drive temporary accommodation models that address specific challenges in local areas and share good practice through an Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme with £30 million funding to tackle a wider range of poor practice – including B&B and unsuitable out-of-area placements.
We will also increase the supply of good-quality, affordable temporary accommodation including through the £950 million fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking tackle developers who bank land instead of building homes, such as the 2,000 new homes with planning permission in Woking where construction has not started.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In May 2025, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk here.
On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential developments, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. That consultation can be found on gov.uk here.
We are now analysing the responses to both consultations, and we will set out our next steps in due course.
The government is currently consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), including new policy designed to ensure major development proposals are capable of being implemented within a reasonable period – taking into account tenure mix, local market conditions and development history of the site.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what consideration is given within the planning system to the potential impact of housing developments on nearby (a) small businesses and (b) local employment.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities are expected to assess economic needs as part of their evidence base and to consider these issues when determining individual applications, including the potential effects of new housing development on nearby businesses and on opportunities for local employment.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing businesses. Where the operation of an existing business or community facility could have a significant adverse effect on new development in its vicinity, the applicant (or ‘agent of change’) should be required to provide suitable mitigation before the development has been completed.
The government is currently consulting on changes to the NPPF, including updated policy on the agent of change principle so that it is more explicit about the matters to be considered and types of activity which may be affected. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the (a) planning application success rate and (b) the number of planning appeals being considered by the Planning Inspectorate relating to mansard extensions since the changes in national policy in 2023.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect data on planning applications or planning appeals relating specifically to mansard roof extensions.