Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to review the income thresholds for the First Homes scheme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has no current plans to review the income thresholds for the First Homes scheme.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how explicit protection of chalk stream rivers is defined in government policy or guidance, as referenced during the Planning Reform debate on 16 December 2025.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that includes clearer, more rules-based policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes explicit recognition of chalk streams as features of high environmental value.
Our proposed policy is clear that local plans must identify and manage the impacts of development on these sensitive areas, for instance by creating buffer zones or green corridors, while giving local authorities flexibility to decide which measures are best suited to their local context.
We have also set out more clearly expectations for development proposals to assess and mitigate adverse impacts to water quality on these sensitive waterbodies.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what measures the Government has enacted to ensure local plans identify and manage the impacts of development on chalk stream rivers; whether these include buffer zones, green corridors or exclusion zones; and whether such measures are mandated in planning policy guidance.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that includes clearer, more rules-based policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes explicit recognition of chalk streams as features of high environmental value.
Our proposed policy is clear that local plans must identify and manage the impacts of development on these sensitive areas, for instance by creating buffer zones or green corridors, while giving local authorities flexibility to decide which measures are best suited to their local context.
We have also set out more clearly expectations for development proposals to assess and mitigate adverse impacts to water quality on these sensitive waterbodies.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his proposal to raise the threshold for consultation from 150 to 250 units would override an exclusion zone in a local plan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Our consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system seeks views on raising the threshold for consulting Active Travel England on residential development from 150 to 250 units. It is expected that this will focus resources on sites which are most likely to be able to benefit from Active Travel England’s advice on enhanced active travel opportunities. No decisions will be made until we have fully considered views on the impacts of these proposals. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 13 January 2026.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will hold discussions with the National House Building Council on protecting homeowners from registered property developers who repeatedly set up new businesses and fail to complete property builds.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department engages regularly with the National House Building Council and is committed to improving upon existing means of redress for new build homebuyers for when things go wrong. This includes bringing into force a statutory New Homes Ombudsman scheme with accompanying Code of Practice.
We are also changing incentives in the housing market and giving local authorities the tools they need to speed up delivery.
On 25 May, we published the Speeding Up Build Out working paper, which sets out proposals to increase build out rates. This includes incentivising and supporting models of development that build out faster, giving local authorities tools to agree and monitor build out rates and potentially giving local authorities the ability to charge developers a ‘Delayed Homes Penalty’.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) parish and (b) district councils to improve access to disabled toilet facilities in rural communities.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are best placed to assess and manage toilet provision and location.
However, through our £30.5 million Changing Places Toilet programme, we have supported the installation of 483 new disabled toilet facilities across 220 local authority areas in England. This targeted investment helped address gaps where provision was limited or non-existent, particularly in rural towns and coastal areas.
Although this programme closed on 31 March 2025, changes to building regulations have made it mandatory to include Changing Places facilities in new public buildings (or those undergoing major redevelopment) that fall above a certain size threshold. This aims to significantly increase the availability of these vital facilities over time and makes accessibility a mainstream consideration in how we plan and build our public spaces.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 fully implement the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 potential merits of making local fire services statutory consultees for industrial lithium-ion battery storage planning permission applications.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2025 the government declared a moratorium on any new statutory consultees, along with a review of the existing statutory consultee arrangements to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth. Further details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).
Planning Practice Guidance encourages developers and local planning authorities to engage with local fire and rescue services and National Fire Chiefs Council guidance in relation to battery energy storage systems.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of foreign home ownership on the availability of housing stock.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 50763 on 16 May 2025.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessments he has made of the potential impact of foreign home ownership on house prices in the UK.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 50763 on 16 May 2025.