Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of creating standardised wildfire (a) definitions and (b) recording protocols.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included reviewing existing frameworks and governance. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Officials continue to engage actively with key stakeholders including landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department's planned timetable is for reviewing the national wildfire framework.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included reviewing existing frameworks and governance. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Officials continue to engage actively with key stakeholders including landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on increasing the provision of land for food-growing allotments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that planning policies and decisions should enable and support healthy lives, including through the provision of allotments.
The NPPF also makes clear that open spaces and recreational buildings and land should not be built on unless there is clear evidence it is no longer required; equivalent or better provision is secured in a suitable location; or development of the site is for alternative sports and recreational provision, the benefits of which clearly outweigh the loss of the current or former use.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of developer contributions held unspent by local authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 2673 on 6 September 2024.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making telecommunications companies statutory consultees in the planning process for new housing developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing local authorities to use automatic number plate recognition for car park management.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Local Authorities are allowed to use ANPR and associated recording equipment for enforcing both on and off-street parking contraventions. However, the use of ANPR by Local Authorities as the sole means for enforcing parking contraventions is forbidden under the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) Regulations. This means that whilst local authorities can use ANPR, they cannot issue penalty charge notices via post following the detection of a parking contravention by ANPR in all but a very limited number of exceptions. Such exceptions include if the motorist drives away before the ticket can be issued, and certain on-street circumstances relating to bus lanes and red routes.
The rationale behind this restriction of ANPR usage is to make non-compliant motorists aware at the time that they have contravened a parking regulation. There are currently no plans to revise the TMA.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the amount of private finance required to deliver the HS2 Euston quarter development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department for Transport is responsible for delivering tunnelling for HS2 to Euston, as well as developing a much-improved station site.
To support the delivery of a significant number of homes alongside this project, MHCLG has established the Euston Housing Delivery Group. As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 31 October 2024 (HCWS182), the Delivery Group will be chaired by Bek Seeley and will be made up of industry experts in urban design, architecture, affordable housing delivery and the financing of large-scale projects.
Identifying the infrastructure, services, and green space required for the area, as well as the private finance needed to deliver the scheme, is a core objective for the group in the coming months. It will be for the delivery group to determine and advise on the quantum of private finance required to deliver wider regeneration around Euston.
We will continue to update Parliament on the work of the Delivery Group.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many fines have been issued for violating tree preservation orders in each year since 2010.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Fines for violating tree preservation orders are issued locally through Magistrates Courts and the government does not hold information on fines issued. Anyone found guilty of violating a Tree Preservation Order is liable to a fine of up to £20,000.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of households that are located on estate roads that have not been adopted by their local authority as of 17 October 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We do not hold comprehensive information on the number of households that are located on estate roads that have not been adopted by their local authority.
The impact assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act estimated that 1,557,000 households lived on freehold estates. This is based upon data from the English Housing Survey (up to 2021 – 22) about the self-reported circumstances of households. This will include estates with a range of different charges not all of which will have unadopted roads. The impact assessment noted that this was likely to be an underestimate.
It is likely that the number of households living on freehold estates has increased since this estimate was completed. The Competition and Markets Authority estimated that over 80% of properties built in 2021 – 22 by the largest 11 housebuilders, representing around two fifths of all new builds across England Scotland and Wales, were subject to estate management charges.
The Government has published its response the Competition and Market’s Authority’s housebuilding study. This includes bringing forward a new consumer code for housebuilders and a New Homes Ombudsman service which will empower homeowners to rightly challenge developers for any quality issues they face in their home.
As outlined in the King’s Speech, the government is committed to bring the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ private estates and unfair costs to an end – we will consult on the best way to achieve this. As part of this work, the government will consult with homeowners, developers, local authorities, management companies and others, to gather evidence in support of this commitment. We will also implement new protections for homeowners on private estates in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that building regulations take into account the need for homes to be resilient to extreme (a) heat and (b) cold.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
A new requirement was introduced as part of the Building Regulations in 2021 to reduce the risk of overheating in new residential buildings. The requirement came into effect in June 2022 and means that new residential buildings must now be designed in such a way as to reduce overheating. The Future Homes and Buildings Standard consultation was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. It sought views on whether the current overheating standards are appropriate or require amendment. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the consultation and will publish the Government response in due course.
An uplift to the energy efficiency standards for new homes was also introduced in 2021. This uplift delivered a significant increase in fabric standards, including insulation standards, and came into effect in June 2022. New homes built to the 2021 standards will be warm, comfortable and resilient to extreme cold.