Localism Bill
Debate between Lord Barwell and Lord Stunell
Gavin Barwell
I want to comment briefly on three of the amendments that have been discussed so far.
I have a huge amount of sympathy for the arguments advanced by my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) about a recall procedure for councillors, but, although I hope that the Government will reflect on the points that have been made and that such a procedure will be introduced eventually, I think it would be inappropriate for the House to introduce it before introducing a similar procedure for Members of Parliament.
I found it incredible that the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley)—who would not take an intervention—should criticise the Government for forcing referendums on the governance structure of local authorities, given that the Government whom she supported forced virtually every council in the country to adopt executive systems of governance with no recourse to referendums.
Finally—I am conscious of the time—I strongly support the new clause about Sunday trading that was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies). He and I do not agree on many issues, but we agreed on two today, sentencing and Sunday trading. I also had a lot of sympathy with the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (John Stevenson) about first past the post. He spoke of the need for consistency, but his amendment would introduce a big inconsistency between the Mayor of London and other elected mayors. The Government should consider that issue in the context of the results of the referendum.
Andrew Stunell
The Localism Bill does what it says on the label. In Committee we tested and tweaked it, and today we are taking another step forward. I urge my hon. Friends and Opposition Members to give—
New Homes Bonus
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Andrew Stunell
I notice that Pendle is credited with 107 new homes, so it will be getting the new homes bonus. It is only fair to my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley, who initiated the debate, to turn to his points.
It should be clear that the Department for Communities and Local Government has set aside almost £1 billion for the scheme over the spending review period, including £200 million in 2011-12. That funding for 2011-12, contrary to the assertion of the hon. Member for Hyndburn, is additional money outside of the grant formula.
The balance between market and affordable homes is also crucial and, therefore, there is an additional £350 payable for each affordable home for the following six years, on top of the new homes bonus for homes in general. That means that local authorities could receive up to £9,000 for each affordable home over the next six years.
Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)
I thank the Minister for giving way. I served with him on the Localism Bill Committee, and we had long debates about the benefits of incentives versus coercion. Does he agree that it is important that the Government should constantly review the level of the bonus, for both normal and affordable housing, to ensure that the incentive is sufficient to generate the necessary level of house building?
Andrew Stunell
I will shortly be speaking about some of the other incentives that are in place, but I agree with my hon. Friend that if we had more money we could have bigger incentives. Nevertheless, it might be wise to wait for the scheme to bed in before starting that revision.
The scheme will pay grant equal to the national average for the council tax band concerned on each additional property, and it will be paid for the following six years as an un-ring-fenced grant. I stress that it is not ring-fenced; the Government make no prescription and give no advice to local authorities on how they might spend the money. It is entirely a matter for the recipient authorities. That brings me to who are the recipient authorities.
My hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley asked me to say something about the split between the county and district tiers in two-tier areas. First, I should say that in single-tier areas, 100% goes to the principal local authority; in county areas, 80% goes to the district planning authority, and 20% to the county council. When I say “it goes”, that is the default position, but it is open to each of those authorities to consider whether they want that to be the case in all circumstances. For instance—this is an example; it is not intended to be a Government directive—if the tipping point for the creation of a new primary school were involved, there might well be some other consideration than 80:20. I remind the House that when it comes to local authority spending, it is generally the case that 80% is spent by the county and 20% by the district, so we are inverting that ratio.
Every development is different and will need different services to support it, and different local concerns will drive the choice on how to spend the new homes bonus. Local authorities and local communities are best placed to negotiate those choices in meeting the needs of local neighbourhoods. My hon. Friend spoke of local communities having the loudest voice. I certainly agree with him on that, hence the 80%, but there are also parish and town councils; and in many unparished areas there will be residents’ and community groups. I would expect sensible local authorities, in working through the new local planning arrangements with neighbourhood plans, to see the bonus as a vital part of negotiating effectively with those communities on how the new homes bonus should apply in those areas.
My hon. Friend also asked how the boundaries question would be dealt with, and gave the example of Whiteley. That may be seen as pulling in the opposite direction to his point about county and district investment, because both of the areas that he spoke of are in Hampshire. The county council will benefit by just over £1 million from the new homes bonus—that will be its 20% for the coming year—and it is a provider of services across both of the areas mentioned. In such situations, the fact that there is a top-tier section of the new homes bonus may be to everyone’s advantage. In addition, the Localism Bill introduces a duty for local authorities to co-operate, which is relevant in establishing plans, taking decisions about how things such as the new homes bonus should be spent, and how some common objectives can be met.
My hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) asked about the possibility of adapting the new homes bonus to give preference to approvals on certain types of land. That is not part of the scheme; nor, as things stand, do I foresee it happening in future. However, the introduction of the neighbourhood planning system will give local communities and local neighbourhoods a much firmer grasp of such decisions as they build up their neighbourhood plans under the district plan, which is subject to the national planning policy framework. I hope that my hon. Friends are satisfied to hear that.
If I may, Mr Williams, I shall use the rest of my time speaking about the different streams of money that support the Government’s intention to see vigorous, sustainable development across the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley asked about open spaces funding. The Department has set aside £11.2 million for community green spaces funding for the coming year. That goes principally to supporting groundwork for the green flag award accreditation scheme, and the federation of city farms and community gardens partnership work programme. Those programmes continue on a comparatively modest scale, but the amount that local authorities choose to allocate for parks and other green spaces is rightly a matter for them.