Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on the reopening of West Ham Cemetery to the general public.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Secretary of State has not received any representations on this matter.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, under what criteria the section 106 agreement at Southend Airport could be amended.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
A section 106 agreement is a legal agreement between a local planning authority and a person with an interest in the land. Section 106 planning obligations are entered into to mitigate the impact of otherwise unacceptable development. As in the case of the section 106 agreement for Southend Airport, section 106 planning obligations can be modified or discharged with the agreement of parties to the section 106 agreement (the local planning authority and the current landowner). Where no agreement to modify or discharge a planning obligation can be reached, and the planning obligation is over five years old, the landowner can apply to the local planning authority to modify or discharge the obligation (under section 106A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990). This could be to discharge it where it no longer serves a useful purpose, or to modify it if it would continue to serve a useful purpose equally well in a modified way.
If, following an application under section 106A, a local planning authority refuses to discharge or modify a planning obligation there is a right of appeal against that decision (under section 106B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990). Such an appeal must be made to the Planning Inspectorate within 6 months of the date of the refusal by the local planning authority.
Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps his Department is taking to reduce homelessness.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a key priority for this Government. We are spending over £1.2 billion through to 2020, we have implemented the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, and have just published our plan to deliver the Rough Sleeping Strategy.