Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department intends to bring forward policies focused on hyper-local community regeneration.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Levelling Up White Paper sets out the policy programme committed to empowering and investing in communities. The Pride in Place mission intends that, by 2030, people's satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community will have risen in every area of the UK.
Government support already includes a £150 million UK-wide Community Ownership Fund. This gives communities the opportunity to take local institutions into their own hands, working with investors and the private sector to match funding.
On town centres, the High Streets Task Force continues to help communities regenerate their high streets to reflect evolving local needs. It supports local authorities with access to expert support in areas such as placemaking, planning and design.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 lowering the minimum square footage threshold for retail impact assessments on out-of-town development.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has made clear that in the first instance, main town centre uses such as retail, should be located in town centres. When assessing planning applications for town centre uses in out of town locations that have not been identified in a local plan, a sequential test should be applied to help ensure development that would have an unacceptable impact on existing centres is not permitted. The National Development Management Policies are intended to cover generic planning considerations that apply regularly in decision-making, of the sort already found in national planning policy, such as the town centre first principles.
The Class E Commercial, Business and Service use class includes a mix of uses such as retail and leisure uses that attract people to local areas. To help support existing businesses to adapt and diversify more quickly to meet changing circumstances, businesses in the same use class are able to change use of their premises to other uses within the use class without the need for a planning application.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is his Department's policy that Planning Use Class E enables out-of-town retail developments to proceed without full planning permission.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has made clear that in the first instance, main town centre uses such as retail, should be located in town centres. When assessing planning applications for town centre uses in out of town locations that have not been identified in a local plan, a sequential test should be applied to help ensure development that would have an unacceptable impact on existing centres is not permitted. The National Development Management Policies are intended to cover generic planning considerations that apply regularly in decision-making, of the sort already found in national planning policy, such as the town centre first principles.
The Class E Commercial, Business and Service use class includes a mix of uses such as retail and leisure uses that attract people to local areas. To help support existing businesses to adapt and diversify more quickly to meet changing circumstances, businesses in the same use class are able to change use of their premises to other uses within the use class without the need for a planning application.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will take steps to develop a National Development Management Policy to strengthen town centre first planning principles.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has made clear that in the first instance, main town centre uses such as retail, should be located in town centres. When assessing planning applications for town centre uses in out of town locations that have not been identified in a local plan, a sequential test should be applied to help ensure development that would have an unacceptable impact on existing centres is not permitted. The National Development Management Policies are intended to cover generic planning considerations that apply regularly in decision-making, of the sort already found in national planning policy, such as the town centre first principles.
The Class E Commercial, Business and Service use class includes a mix of uses such as retail and leisure uses that attract people to local areas. To help support existing businesses to adapt and diversify more quickly to meet changing circumstances, businesses in the same use class are able to change use of their premises to other uses within the use class without the need for a planning application.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it remains his Department's policy to award funding to Levelling Up Fund Round 2 applications; and when an announcement on those awards will be made.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
All bids to the second round of the Levelling Up Fund are currently being assessed in line with our published guidance. The outcome of the second round bidding process will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 it his policy not to develop any forms of rent control in the private rented sector.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector to set the level of rent at the outset of a tenancy. Historical evidence suggests that these would discourage investment in the sector and would lead to declining property standards as a result, which would not help landlords or tenants. Recent international examples also suggest that rent controls can have an inadvertent negative impact on the supply of housing and may encourage more illegal subletting.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to notify councils of their 2023-24 funding allocation for the Domestic Abuse Duty.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring victims of domestic abuse receive the support they need. We will announce the funding for 2023/24 at the earliest opportunity.
So far, local authorities are in receipt of two years of new burdens funding for the delivery of their duties - £125 million in both 2021/22 and 2022/23. This has enabled local authorities to be able to plan for and commission support services to meet the needs of victims.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 it his policy to (a) give local authorities at least three months’ notice of their 2023-24 funding allocations for the Domestic Abuse Duty or (b) provide local authorities with the minimum figure they can expect to receive for the purposes of supporting efficient planning and commissioning of services.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring victims of domestic abuse receive the support they need. We will announce the funding for 2023/24 at the earliest opportunity.
So far, local authorities are in receipt of two years of new burdens funding for the delivery of their duties - £125 million in both 2021/22 and 2022/23. This has enabled local authorities to be able to plan for and commission support services to meet the needs of victims.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 commit to ensuring that all forms of affordable housing, including homes at Discount Market Sale, are granted exemption from the infrastructure levy proposed in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Infrastructure Levy will be a mandatory, non-negotiable charge, set and collected locally, to largely replace the complex and discretionary section 106 regime and CIL charge.
The Government is committed to the delivery of on-site affordable housing through the Levy, and to delivering at least as much, if not more, affordable housing than at present. We will introduce through regulations a new 'right to require'. Local authorities will be able to require that a proportion of the Levy liability to be paid as in-kind, onsite affordable housing.
We do not intend to charge the Levy on affordable housing, and will consult on the details of our proposed approach. Exemptions and reductions with regards to the Levy will be set out through regulations.