Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a standardised UK-wide Tree Preservation Order mapping system and data set for local authorities; and if not, whether they have plans to establish one.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
Tree Preservation Orders and planning are devolved to local authorities. We expect each local authority in England to record the location of amenity trees it decides to protect with Tree Preservation Orders. As decisions on individual trees are a local matter, there are no plans to introduce a national dataset.
Looking forward, Local Nature Recovery Strategies provided for in the Environment Bill will map out the priorities for sustainable nature recovery across landscapes, including new woodland and hedgerow trees. The Bill also includes measures to require local consultation before street trees are removed, and will enable local authorities to require developers to secure net gain for biodiversity, including tree-planting and green space, when planning permissions are granted.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local authority planners have access to a UK-wide database to identify land available for tree planting and natural regeneration; and how long that land is available for.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
Tree Preservation Orders and planning are devolved to local authorities. We expect each local authority in England to record the location of amenity trees it decides to protect with Tree Preservation Orders. As decisions on individual trees are a local matter, there are no plans to introduce a national dataset.
Looking forward, Local Nature Recovery Strategies provided for in the Environment Bill will map out the priorities for sustainable nature recovery across landscapes, including new woodland and hedgerow trees. The Bill also includes measures to require local consultation before street trees are removed, and will enable local authorities to require developers to secure net gain for biodiversity, including tree-planting and green space, when planning permissions are granted.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have given local authorities regarding the percentage of parking spaces in new developments which should be required to have charging points for electric vehicles.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The National Planning Policy Framework states that developments should, where practical, incorporate facilities for charging plug-in and other ultra-low emission vehicles. The level of parking provision in new developments is a decision for local planning authorities to make. Local Planning authorities should use the Framework, supporting planning guidance and local uptake of vehicles when making these decisions. As use of this technology grows, there are permitted development rights available for the installation of wall mounted and free-standing electric vehicle charging points in off-street parking areas.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is being done to increase the number of specially adapted homes in (1) North Lincolnshire, and (2) nationally, so that those with complex care needs can live independently for longer.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Since 2011 the Government has invested over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant to fund adaptations to disabled people’s homes to help them live independently and safely at home for longer. This provides for around 40,000 adaptations each year and around 200,000 homes have been adapted since 2010. North Lincolnshire has received £5,143,717 of this funding over this period. Future funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant will rise to over £500 million in 2019-20.
The Government is also providing specialised housing for disabled and older people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund and the Affordable Homes Programme and these will deliver 24 specialised homes in North Lincolnshire between 2011 – 2018.
In the Spending Review we have committed to £400 million of funding to deliver 8,000 specialist homes for the vulnerable, elderly or those with disabilities. A commitment to funding from Department of Health could deliver up to a further 7,500 homes over the Spending Review.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of job opportunities created so far by Enterprise Zones, including how many of those opportunities are full-time, part-time, work experience or apprenticeship opportunities, both within each zone and in the surrounding area.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The job opportunities which Enterprise Zones have attracted are published quarterly on a national and regional performance basis. The most recently published data covers the period up until the end of June 2015 and shows that the 24 Enterprise Zones established since 2012 have already attracted 20,676 jobs and that this number had increased by 9 per cent between March and June 2015.
Information on the type of jobs or the number of jobs within individual zones or surrounding areas is not available.