Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the criteria was for the selection of the 100 places to benefit from the recently announced new Towns Fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
As part of the process of identifying the initial 100 places, towns have been chosen on the basis of a robust selection methodology. This took into account various qualitative and quantitative indicators. These included income deprivation, skills, productivity, EU exit exposure, economic shocks, investment opportunities, and policy alignment.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
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 effectiveness of tree preservation orders; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Tree Preservation Orders are issued and enforced by local authorities, who have responsibility for ensuring trees of amenity value are protected for their community's enjoyment. The Government strongly believes in protecting our natural environment, which is why we increased protection for Ancient and Veteran trees in the National Planning Policy Framework in 2018, and are the first Government to commit to leaving the natural environment in a better state then we inherited it.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
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 the conclusion of the 2018 research conducted by Buffel, Phillipson, Scharf entitled, Ageing in urban environments: Developing age-friendly Cities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the planning of (a) shopping areas and (b) high streets caters for the needs of older people.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new developments create places that are safe, inclusive and accessible, and that a positive approach should be taken towards the management and adaptation of town centres. This can include assessing how accessibility and the public realm can be improved for the benefit of the whole community, including for individuals who have specific needs.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the findings of the consultation on the use of powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments, which closed on 15 June 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have today published the Government’s response to the consultation on powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments. This can be found on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/powers-for-dealing-with-unauthorised-development-and-encampments.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the consultation on powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
My Department is working closely with the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, as we carefully consider all the consultation responses we received. We will provide a formal response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lord Coaker (Labour - Life peer)
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 effect of negative revenue support grant on (a) local authorities and (b) other bodies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The potential effect of ‘negative revenue support grant’ on local authorities in 2019-20 can be seen in the Tariff/Top-up adjustment column, in tables contained within the Publication “Key information for local authorities: final local government finance settlement 2016 to 2017”:
Concerns around the effect of negative Revenue Support Grant (RSG) have been raised by local authorities in previous consultations. The Government’s preferred option for addressing negative RSG is simply not to reflect negative RSG in local authorities’ business rates top-ups and tariffs, leaving the money with local authorities.
The 2019-20 Settlement technical consultation, published on 24 July, closed on 18 September, and we plan a statement to the House following analysis of consultation responses.