Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new homes are currently being prevented from being built in Greater Cambridge due to water scarcity, and how many of these homes will be built following the introduction of the water credits system.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No new homes in Cambridge are currently blocked due to water scarcity issues. Our work with the Water Scarcity Group has unblocked over 9,000 homes and over 500,000sqm of commercial space, and in December 2024, the Environment Agency lifted its objections to remaining blocked development following improvements to Cambridge Water’s Water Resource Management Plan and progress made by the Water Scarcity Group.
The Government is continuing to progress work to deliver water savings and develop a water credits scheme, to ensure that development between now and 2032 (when new water resources are delivered) can proceed. Further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many homes they estimate London will contribute to their target of 1.5 million new builds in each year of the current Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has set an ambitious target of 88,000 new homes per year in London through the new standard method and remains committed to working in partnership with the London Mayor, boroughs, and wider stakeholders to achieve a step change in building in the capital.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many homes have been delivered in London over the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Total housing supply in London amounted to 191,103 net additional dwellings (for the period 2019-20 to 2023-24).
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the planning system in (1) London, and (2) England and Wales, to make it easier for small housebuilders to obtain planning permission.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which seeks views on taking a gradated approach to the system as a whole – removing and streamlining disproportionate requirements on small and medium sites, while maintaining and strengthening requirements on major development. We are currently considering the responses received to the working paper.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, also strengthened the wording around small site allocation for SME housebuilders and includes measures designed to promote mixed tenure development.
Housing is a devolved matter and it is for the Welsh Government to decide what reforms to bring forward in Wales.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many development consent orders they have determined since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since 4 July 2024, the government has made 24 decisions on major infrastructure projects. 21 decisions were signed in the first year of this Parliament, which is more decisions in a single year than any previous government.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the list of sites for new towns which they commissioned the New Towns Taskforce to deliver.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Taskforce submitted its report to the government this summer, which includes its final recommendations on potential locations for new towns. The government will take a short period to carefully consider the Taskforce's recommendations and publish both the report and its response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they are making in the planning system to ensure that planning departments have the resource they need to address planning application backlogs.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.
The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.
At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.
Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.
On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement Minister Pennycook made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
On 25 February 2025, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.
More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.
Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small housebuilders to build more homes, and according to what timetable.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Small and medium sized housebuilders are essential to meeting the government's housing ambitions and supporting local economies.
The government is acting to support SME housebuilders by increasing their access to land, providing further financial assistance and easing the burden of regulation. Further details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 2 June 2025 (HLWS670).
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing regulations on the non-disclosure of event fees in the leases of specialist housing for older people.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer to Question UIN 24603 on 13 May 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of capping existing ground rents (a) to a peppercorn, (b) to £250 per annum and (c) in another way on the operation of (i) pension funds and (ii) financial markets.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government’s consultation on restricting ground rents for existing leases ran from 8 December to 17 January.
Whilst we will publish a full response shortly, we can confirm that the general response to the consultation has confirmed that ground rents represent, at most, a small percentage of total UK pension assets. In addition, no substantive evidence has been provided within the consultation that suggests that there is a systemic risk to the operation of pension funds or the financial markets. Even the sector itself, in its so-called “option 6” alternative, has recognised the necessity of reform in this policy area.
Having concluded the consultation and reviewed the responses provided, we intend to set out the future proposed approach in this policy area shortly.