Amber Rudd
Main Page: Amber Rudd (Independent - Hastings and Rye)(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)
14. What his timetable is for the next allocations of the new homes bonus.
Amber Rudd (Hastings and Rye) (Con)
16. What his timetable is for the next allocations of the new homes bonus.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
The Government will shortly announce the final new homes bonus payments for 2012-13. These were provisionally estimated in December at £430 million.
Grant Shapps
Yes, absolutely. My hon. Friend’s council in Milton Keynes is a shining beacon of housing growth and delivery, which puts many other councils to shame.
Amber Rudd
Towns such as Hastings have almost no new land for the building of new homes, but we are encouraged by the new homes bonus to tackle derelict buildings and are doing it well, despite—if I may say so—being controlled by a Labour council. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that social bonus is as welcome to communities as the additional financial bonus?
Grant Shapps
I entirely agree. In the last year 85 homes in Hastings have been brought back into use, which is indeed welcome. It is essential for us to reverse the catastrophic policies that, under the last Government, led to the lowest level of house building since the 1920s.