Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of extending the Tyne and Wear Metro to Doxford International Business Park in Sunderland.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of its Continuous Modular Strategic Planning work on long term strategy for the rail network, Network Rail is assessing what is required to make sure that the rail network between York and Newcastle meets the needs of passengers and freight users in the coming decades. This study is considering the potential role of reinstatement of the Leamside line in meeting those needs, including for local connectivity through extension of the Tyne and Wear local conventional rail or Metro network. It will make recommendations for further option development.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether funding announced by the Department for Transport on 28 January to assess the feasibility of re-opening railway lines will include a study into re-opening the Leamside line between Sunderland, Washington, Houghton-le-Spring and Pelaw.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of its Continuous Modular Strategic Planning work on long term strategy for the rail network, Network Rail is assessing what is required to make sure that the rail network between York and Newcastle meets the needs of passengers and freight users in the coming decades. This study is considering the potential role of reinstatement of the Leamside line in meeting those needs, including for local connectivity through extension of the Tyne and Wear local conventional rail or Metro network. It will make recommendations for further option development.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to preventing the demolition of the Doxford Gate, Pallion Quay, at Sunderland and preserving it as a monument to Sunderland's ship building heritage.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Sunderland has a history as an internationally significant centre for shipbuilding. However, such was the pace of change in the shipbuilding industry that few structures survived. Doxford Gate sits in the path of a new inner ring road which will link the city centre to a new bridge across the River Wear. The site has been considered for statutory protection by listing, but it does not meet the national criteria. It is unfortunate that it appears that the Doxford Gate cannot be preserved, but I am pleased to report that I understand it is intended to re-erect the historic iron gates from the entrance nearby as a memorial to the shipyard.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to include housing associations and tenant management organisations.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government agrees that landlords, including housing associations, should be accountable and transparent in their dealings with tenants and be responsive to their needs. However, we do not believe the extension of the FOI to housing associations is the best means of achieving that.
Housing Associations are already required to make a significant amount of information public. They are required to publish their accounts annually, including a strategic report covering issues such as the remunerations of key personnel.
The Regulator of Social Housing, which regulates the sector, also publishes information supplied by Housing Association at individual provider level, including details of their stock holdings, rent levels and evictions.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, through data collected from brownfield land registers, of the number of homes that could be built on brownfield sites.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
All local planning authorities have now published a local register of brownfield land suitable for housing, bringing many more sites to the attention of house-builders, self-builders and investors.
The information published by local planning authorities suggests that across England as a whole there are over 18,000 sites and over 26,000 hectares of land suitable for development, with capacity for one million homes.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve "brownfield first" policies to ensure that suitable brownfield land is prioritised over greenfield sites in (1) local and strategic plans, and (2) planning decisions.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The updated National Planning Policy Framework, published in July last year, strengthened policy on the use of previously-developed land. It made clear that local authorities' strategic policies should make as much use as possible of brownfield sites in meeting development needs, and that planning policies and decisions should give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements. The Framework sets out a range of policies to help local authorities achieve this, including the use of minimum density standards for homes where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consulted providers of specialist housing for older people when formulating the Housing Delivery Test; and if so, what was the outcome.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
As part of the Housing White Paper ‘Fixing the Broken Housing Market’, and the draft revised National Planning Policy Framework we consulted a wide range of stakeholders on policy proposals. For the draft Framework we conducted 3 key stakeholder roundtables, and carried out 40 individual meetings with interested parties on specific topics or wording. This included the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and British Property Federation. Stakeholders were generally supportive of the Test’s approach to older peoples housing as it rewards authorities for delivering older peoples housing by allowing them to count communal accommodation (such as care homes).
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have detailed planning guidance in place for the provision of specialist housing for older people.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
In the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, we strengthened policy to create a clear expectation that all local authorities have policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older people. The number of authorities with detailed planning guidance on the provision of specialist housing for older people is not recorded. We will publish further planning guidance, to assist councils to put these policies in place, in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning Act commitment. We have undertaken extensive engagement in relation to the guidance, including discussions with a range of local authorities, charities and house builder representatives to identify and discuss the key issues. We will publish the guidance in due course.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to issue guidance to local authorities on the provision of specialist housing for older people as required under the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017; and what consultation they have undertaken with providers of specialist housing for older people to inform that guidance.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
In the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, we strengthened policy to create a clear expectation that all local authorities have policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older people. The number of authorities with detailed planning guidance on the provision of specialist housing for older people is not recorded. We will publish further planning guidance, to assist councils to put these policies in place, in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning Act commitment. We have undertaken extensive engagement in relation to the guidance, including discussions with a range of local authorities, charities and house builder representatives to identify and discuss the key issues. We will publish the guidance in due course.
Asked by: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will provide funding to Sunderland City Council to cover the cost to that authority of leasing land at Deptford Terrace to create a temporary lorry parking facility for vehicles delivering to Nissan's Sunderland plant that could be delayed due to disruption at ports in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government has provided Sunderland City Council with £210,000, split between 2018/19 and 2019/20, to help the council prepare for EU Exit, which the council can decide how to spend according to local need.