Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to take steps to ensure that new buildings in central London that have been empty for over six months can be acquired by the Government and used for social or economic purposes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government wants to see more empty homes brought back into use across the country.
Local authorities have strong powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. They have the discretionary powers to charge additional council tax on properties which have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for one or more years. The maximum premium that a council can apply increases, depending on the length of time that the property has been empty for, with a premium of up to 300% on homes left empty for over ten years. They can also access funding through the Affordable Homes Programme and Local Authority Housing Fund.
Local authorities can also use powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal. More information can be found on gov.uk here.
The government outlined its intent to strengthen local authorities’ ability to take over the management of vacant residential premises in the English Devolution White Paper published in December 2024 which can be found here. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many houses threatened by repeated flooding have been purchased by public authorities in England to enable residents to move to more secure premises in the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to compulsorily purchase substandard housing in England and bring it to an acceptable standard for occupation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has no plans to compulsorily purchase substandard housing in England directly. However, it has included measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to improve and speed-up how authorities can take possession of substandard housing through compulsory purchase.
The Bill also makes the home loss payments regime fairer in relation to the compulsory purchase of substandard housing.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of any overspend by local authorities in England in this financial year; and how much has been allocated to cover that overspend in the final local government finance settlement for this year.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the noble Lord to the statement made by my hon Friend the Minister for Local Government and Homelessness on 20 November 2025 (attached) (HCWS1080), which sets out our plans for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement, which includes allocating £3.4 billion of new grant funding over the multi-year period.
Local authorities are required to set a balanced budget. Any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the department in the first instance. The government does not collect data on overspends of budgets, but Revenue Account Budgets and Revenue Outturn are published as official national statistics.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 27 October (HL Deb col 1192), whether the aim to "sort out Hillside" referred to the consequences of the decision of the Supreme Court in Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30 or the planning status of the hillside location in Aberdyfi; and when they expect the Hillside issue to be resolved.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My remarks to the House set out the Government’s proposed approach to handling the broader implications of the Supreme Court judgement on the use of drop in permissions for the development sector in England, not the specific case in Wales subject to the judgement.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Equality and Social Justice Committee of Senedd Cymru Co-operation over Conflict: Wales must act published in October, and whether they will take steps in response to its finding that there is a "tinderbox of division and discontent".
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
It is clear that there are feelings of division and frustration in this country, with people feeling the strain of economic insecurity. By recognising and addressing these concerns through some of the interventions included in the Pride in Place Strategy, we seek to improve the lives of people in this country, in the places that they live.
The Strategy announced the Government’s flagship Pride in Place programme, supporting 244 neighbourhoods with up to £20 million each over the next decade. Nine local authorities in Wales will benefit from the new programme. These areas will join five communities where work is already underway, taking the total to fourteen local authorities across Wales sharing £280 million. Local authorities will be invited to propose the communities within their areas to participate in the Pride in Place Programme for UK Government approval with capacity and capital funding to all places from Spring 2026. This funding can be used to support community cohesion interventions.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to require local authorities in England to obtain guarantees, backed up by financial penalties, from water and sewerage providers that a new housing development can be served before they can grant planning permission.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to ensuring there is adequate water and wastewater capacity to support growth.
It is the responsibility of water and wastewater service providers to plan for and deliver sufficient levels of infrastructure capacity to accommodate planned growth. The majority of water companies have now published their water resources management plans which set out how they will continue to provide secure water supplies in the long term.
The government has created a new duty for water companies in England to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans, which set out how a water company intends to improve their drainage and wastewater systems over the next 25 years, to accommodate growth and mitigate issues related to insufficient capacity.
When granting planning permission, local authorities can seek a section 106 planning obligation from a developer to mitigate the impact of a development to make it acceptable in planning terms. The obligation may, for example, require certain infrastructure or infrastructure contributions to be provided and specify the periods at which they must be provided. Local authorities have enforcement powers to ensure compliance with any such provisions.
I also refer the noble Lord to the answer given to Question UIN 26106 on 05 February 2025.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what date they expect the work to remove dangerous cladding from high rise residential buildings in England to have been completed.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No leaseholder in a high-rise residential building should wait a day longer for remediation than necessary. The Remediation Acceleration Plan published last December states that by the end of 2029 all high rise buildings (18 metres and over) with unsafe cladding in a government funded scheme will have been remediated. The joint plan with developers published alongside the Remediation Acceleration Plan established targets for developers to start or complete remedial works on all their buildings by the end of July 2027.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since 4 July to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in cities in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and this can have a devastating impact on those affected. We will consider all these issues as we develop our long-term cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
We are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.
This is on top of a £10 million fund announced in November to protect people sleeping rough from cold weather this winter.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of flats in London which are (1) unoccupied, or (2) occupied by owners or other residents at less than 40 per cent of available capacity.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
While the Department publishes data through the English Housing Survey (EHS) on whether dwellings are underoccupied (according to the bedroom standard) or vacant, its sample size means it does not have reliable estimates for flats in London. The department also publishes statistics on vacant dwellings, as reported for the purposes of council tax, but does not disaggregate by type of property.
More information on the EHS can be found at English Housing Survey - GOV.UK., while statistics on vacant dwellings can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/council-taxbase-statistics.