Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the efficiencies accrued as a result of the merger of Shrewsbury, North Shropshire and South Shropshire Borough Councils with Shropshire Council.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department has made no such estimates following the establishment of the Shropshire Council but an in dependent review undertaken by EY, ‘Independent Analysis of Governance Scenarios and Public Service Reform in County Areas’ published in 2016 estimates the savings to have been £20 million per year.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential efficiency savings of merging local authorities.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Our policy is to implement, subject to Parliamentary approval, any proposal made by councils to merge which we assess on the basis of information in the proposal as meeting our merger criteria, including giving greater value for many and yielding cost savings, which were announced to Parliament in a written statement on 7 November 2017 (HCWS232).
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the additional cost to the public purse of establishing two local authorities in Shropshire.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Department has made no estimate of the cost of establishing two local authorities in Shropshire.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanism is in place for members of the public to raise complaints about the operation of town and parish councils; and to which body such complaints should be directed.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
There are various mechanisms in place for members of the public to make complaints about their town or parish council.
These include: using the parish council’s complaints procedure;raising the matter at the annual parish meeting; questioning, or making an objection to, the auditor during the public inspection period of accounts; or by joining with a group of local electors to call for a parish poll on the issue. In instances of councillor misconduct, complaints can be made to the principal council’s monitoring officer who can investigate.
Central Government does not have the power to intervene in parish council matters and believes that the current local system of redress is proportionate to the sector and consistent with this Government's principles on localism.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are able to charge self-builders under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Dominic Raab
To support small scale developers, national policy states that affordable housing and tariff style section 106 contributions should not be sought from sites of ten units or less. This would usually apply to self-builders. Furthermore, self-builders should not have to pay Community Infrastructure Levy charges where an exemption has been applied for and obtained. However, it may be appropriate for local authorities to seek planning obligations from development where they are required to make a proposal acceptable in planning terms.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are able to charge self-builders under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Dominic Raab
To support small scale developers, national policy states that affordable housing and tariff style section 106 contributions should not be sought from sites of ten units or less. This would usually apply to self-builders. Furthermore, self-builders should not have to pay Community Infrastructure Levy charges where an exemption has been applied for and obtained. However, it may be appropriate for local authorities to seek planning obligations from development where they are required to make a proposal acceptable in planning terms.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the roll-out of the ban on ground rent for new build homes to leaseholders of non-new build properties.
Answered by Dominic Raab
I am committed to tackling all forms of leasehold abuse and promoting fairness and transparency for the growing number of leaseholders. On 21 December 2017, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly the Department for Communities and Local Government) published its response to the consultation on ‘Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market’. (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-unfair-practices-in-the-leasehold-market).
This set out a range of measures to crackdown on unfair leasehold practices, including introducing legislation to restrict ground rents for newly established long leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value). This will apply to new and non-new build properties.
A full impact assessment will be published ahead of legislation being brought forward.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle the issue of exploitative ground rent charges being levied on leaseholders of non-new build properties.
Answered by Dominic Raab
I am committed to tackling all forms of leasehold abuse and promoting fairness and transparency for the growing number of leaseholders. On 21 December 2017, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly the Department for Communities and Local Government) published its response to the consultation on ‘Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market’. (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-unfair-practices-in-the-leasehold-market).
This set out a range of measures to crackdown on unfair leasehold practices, including introducing legislation to restrict ground rents for newly established long leases of houses and flats to a peppercorn (zero financial value). This will apply to new and non-new build properties.
A full impact assessment will be published ahead of legislation being brought forward.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reviewing the system for assessing the level of business rates levied on public houses and hotels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we are not involved in their independent assessments. At the Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced we are extending for a further year the £1,000 business rates discount for eligible pubs with a rateable value of under £100,000.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an estimate of the potential effect on (a) staffing, (b) administrative and (c) other costs of replacing Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council with a single unitary authority.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
It is for the Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council to decide whether they wish to merge into a single unitary council to improve the local governance of the area and make it more sustainable, and if so to make an assessment of the potential effects on services, staffing, and costs which they would need to include as part of any formal governance change to be submitted to the Secretary of State.