Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what representations he has received on the instructions to local councils not to hold council meetings remotely; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
A Call for Evidence on remote meetings was conducted from 25 March to 17 June 2021 to inform consideration of permanent provisions. The responses to the Call for Evidence have been reviewed and Government will respond shortly.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on setting up a Housing with Care task force; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government welcomes the work of specialist older people’s housing providers in building homes and meeting the needs of our aging population. We are already engaging with specialist providers as we take forwards our plan to build the homes our country needs, including our reform and modernisation of the planning system. Ministers and officials will continue to engage with this sector going forwards.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to relax housing delivery targets for local authorities in 2020-21 in response to the covid19 outbreak, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We note the concerns you raise regarding Housing Delivery Test under current circumstances. It is important to keep the planning system moving as much as we can, so that it is able to play its full part in the economic recovery to come, but we will continue to monitor the situation.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to bring forward legislation to reform permitted development rights to support the (a) deployment of 5G and (b) expansion of mobile coverage.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In August 2019, a joint consultation by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was launched to consider amending permitted development rights to support increased mobile coverage and 5G deployment.
The consultation closed on 04 November 2019. The Government is considering the replies and will issue a response in due course.?Subject to the outcome of this consultation, if the proposals are taken forward, we anticipate undertaking a further consultation on the detail of those proposals.
Asked by: Damian Green (Conservative - Ashford)
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 issue guidance to local authorities on the provision of specialist housing for older people as required under the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published in July 2018, we strengthened policy to create a clear expectation that all local authorities have policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older people. The number of authorities with detailed planning guidance on the provision of specialist housing for older people is not recorded.
We will publish further planning guidance, to assist councils to put these policies in place, in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning Act commitment. We have undertaken extensive engagement in relation to the guidance, including discussions with a range of local authorities, charities and house builder representatives to identify and discuss the key issues. We will publish the guidance in due course.