Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the letter from the Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection to the Deputy Prime Minister on 2 May concerning the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which stated that “In our considered view, the bill would have the effect of reducing the level of environmental protection provided for by existing environmental law”, on what basis they made a statement under section 20(3) rather than subsection (4) of the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill concerning development and nature recovery will not reduce overall levels of environmental protection.
Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures are likely to outweigh the negative effects of development.
EDPs and the conservation measures they propose must be evidence-based and properly scrutinised before being put in place. EDPs may include back-up measures that can be deployed if monitoring shows the environmental outcomes are not being achieved.
Natural England will be empowered and given the tools to deliver the conservation measures needed to secure the aims of the EDP.
The government is confident that this more strategic approach to the assessment of negative effects, and delivery of conservation measures, strikes the right balance and will result in better environmental outcomes that go further than simply offsetting harm as required under current legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their most recent estimate of the number of unoccupied dwellings in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
According to the latest published statistics, excluding second homes, there are 719, 470 vacant dwellings in England. Statistics on vacant dwellings in England as reported for the purposes of council tax are published in the Department’s live table 615 which is accessible on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 10 April (HL6223), whether they will answer the question put, namely, whether they have commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer given to Question UIN HL6223 on 10 April 2025.
The department has not commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill as they are an independent body and it is for them to decide whether to advise on proposed changes.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are aware of any plans the Office of Environmental Protection may have to publish advice regarding the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (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, whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of unoccupied dwellings in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department publishes live tables on dwelling stock, which includes vacant homes here: Live tables on dwelling stock (including vacants) - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). This data is collated from Council Taxbase data, collected by local authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (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 his Department has made of the potential impact of its plans to address water scarcity in Greater Cambridge on the water bills of Anglian Water customers in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of Greater Cambridge in a sustainable way, supporting its economic potential, protecting and enhancing the quality of life for residents, habitats and the environment.
At Spring Budget 2024, the government published a policy paper setting out its ambition to address water scarcity in Greater Cambridge. Customer water bills are set every five years by Ofwat through its ‘price review’ process which includes controlling the prices that companies can charge customers whilst allowing companies to finance improvements to their infrastructure.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (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, how many homes were built in Suffolk Coastal constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lee Rowley
We are taking significant steps to address the challenges to increasing housing supply around the country, including in Suffolk. We recognise the scale of challenges facing the housebuilding sector in the current macro-economic climate. Against this challenging backdrop, we have invested billions in housing since the start of this Parliament. This investment will support bringing forward land for development, enabling the market to deliver the homes and infrastructure that communities need, and support increasing local authority planning capacity.
We have also taken significant measures through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, and National Planning Policy Framework, to reform the planning system. These measures aim to reduce planning delays, bureaucracy, slow build-out rates, and wider barriers to growth and development.
We want decisions about homes to be driven locally and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need. This is why we have revised the National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) to be clearer about the importance of planning for homes and other development that our communities need.
The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply, with estimates of new homes delivered in each local authority, including East Suffolk, in each financial year since 2001-02, shown in Live Table 122 at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (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 steps his Department is taking to help increase the availability of homes in Suffolk.
Answered by Lee Rowley
We are taking significant steps to address the challenges to increasing housing supply around the country, including in Suffolk. We recognise the scale of challenges facing the housebuilding sector in the current macro-economic climate. Against this challenging backdrop, we have invested billions in housing since the start of this Parliament. This investment will support bringing forward land for development, enabling the market to deliver the homes and infrastructure that communities need, and support increasing local authority planning capacity.
We have also taken significant measures through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, and National Planning Policy Framework, to reform the planning system. These measures aim to reduce planning delays, bureaucracy, slow build-out rates, and wider barriers to growth and development.
We want decisions about homes to be driven locally and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need. This is why we have revised the National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) to be clearer about the importance of planning for homes and other development that our communities need.
The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply, with estimates of new homes delivered in each local authority, including East Suffolk, in each financial year since 2001-02, shown in Live Table 122 at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected.