Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 5 February 2025 on English Devolution and Local Government, Official Report, col 767, whether it remains his Department's policy that it does not hold elections to bodies that will not exist.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has received no formal requests to postpone elections from councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock that were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government.
In terms of cancelling elections, I expect the secondary legislation that establishes new unitary councils to replace scheduled elections with elections to the new councils. For Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock I anticipate there will be elections to new unitary councils in May 2027.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 10 November to Question 87207 on Local Government: Reorganisation, what democratic safeguards his Department will introduce to ensure that voters are not denied the chance to vote in the 2026 local elections due to their councillors requesting another cancellation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has received no formal requests to postpone elections from councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock that were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government.
In terms of cancelling elections, I expect the secondary legislation that establishes new unitary councils to replace scheduled elections with elections to the new councils. For Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock I anticipate there will be elections to new unitary councils in May 2027.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 10 November 2025 to Question 87207 on Local Government: Reorganisation, whether considers Thurrock's financial circumstances to be sufficiently strong justification for cancelling the 2026 elections; and whether he considers those circumstances to be equivalent to Surrey's.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On the handling of Thurrock Council’s debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.
Our starting point remains for all elections in 2026 to go ahead unless there is strong justification otherwise.
The elections in May 2026 to the new councils of East Surrey and West Surrey will replace scheduled council elections, subject to Parliament. Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock are on a different timeline and I have today updated the House on the consultation on their proposals for unitary councils. We anticipate elections to any new councils in May 2027, with a ‘go live’ date for new authorities of April 2028. We are not cancelling elections in Thurrock in May 2026.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 10 Novembr 2025 to Question 87207 on Local Government: Reorganisation, whether his Department would consider another request to cancel elections on the basis of delivering (a) devolution and (b) reorganisation to be sufficiently strong justification for cancelling local elections in 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has received no formal requests to postpone elections from councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock that were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government.
In terms of cancelling elections, I expect the secondary legislation that establishes new unitary councils to replace scheduled elections with elections to the new councils. For Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock I anticipate there will be elections to new unitary councils in May 2027.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has received requests from (a) Thurrock, (b) Essex, (c) Basildon and (d) any other Essex council to cancel the 2026 local elections.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has received no formal requests to postpone elections from councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock that were invited to submit proposals for unitary local government.
In terms of cancelling elections, I expect the secondary legislation that establishes new unitary councils to replace scheduled elections with elections to the new councils. For Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock I anticipate there will be elections to new unitary councils in May 2027.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the demand for housing in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) Newcastle.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 includes a new Standard Method for assessing housing needs that is aligned to our Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new safe and decent homes in England by the end of this Parliament.
Indicative local housing need figures both for local authorities and regions under the revised standard method can be found on gov.uk here. Indicative figures have not been provided for Hexham constituency, as it falls under Northumberland County Council.
The standard method is used by local authorities to inform the preparation of their local plans. Once local housing need has been assessed, authorities should then make an assessment of the number of new homes that can be provided in their area. This should be justified by evidence on land availability, constraints on development, such as National Landscapes and areas at risk of flooding, and any other relevant matters. The approach taken is then tested by the Planning Inspector during the examination of the Local Plan.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the proportion of planning applications rejected by Councils in each of the last five years, broken down by controlling political party.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The proportions of planning applications that have been rejected in each of the past five years in England and in London can be derived from the data available in the PS2 time series section of the interactive planning application statistics dashboard, available here.
They can also be derived from the detailed data held in PS2 open data file on gov.uk here.
My Department does not hold the information on political control needed to provide the requested breakdown of figures by controlling political party in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 estimate of the proportion of planning applications which have been rejected in each of the past five years in London.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The proportions of planning applications that have been rejected in each of the past five years in England and in London can be derived from the data available in the PS2 time series section of the interactive planning application statistics dashboard, available here.
They can also be derived from the detailed data held in PS2 open data file on gov.uk here.
My Department does not hold the information on political control needed to provide the requested breakdown of figures by controlling political party in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of houses that have been rejected for planning permission in Greater London since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The proportions of planning applications that have been rejected in each of the past five years in England and in London can be derived from the data available in the PS2 time series section of the interactive planning application statistics dashboard, available here.
They can also be derived from the detailed data held in PS2 open data file on gov.uk here.
My Department does not hold the information on political control needed to provide the requested breakdown of figures by controlling political party in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of houses in urban areas which have been rejected for planning permission since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The proportions of planning applications that have been rejected in each of the past five years in England and in London can be derived from the data available in the PS2 time series section of the interactive planning application statistics dashboard, available here.
They can also be derived from the detailed data held in PS2 open data file on gov.uk here.
My Department does not hold the information on political control needed to provide the requested breakdown of figures by controlling political party in each of the last five years.