Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of people with mental health problems on social housing waiting lists.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Local authorities are required by law to ensure that ‘reasonable preference’ (ie priority) for social housing is given to those who need to move on medical and welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. Statutory allocations guidance makes clear that this would include a mental illness or disorder.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to carry out housing needs assessments in villages that have not been allocated housing within local plans, but where there is likely to be a local need for housing.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Local authorities should identify needs throughout their area, which should inform their spatial strategy and housing numbers for areas engaged in neighbourhood planning. Neighbourhood planning groups may wish to collect additional evidence about the nature of the need in their areas, to inform any housing policies that they wish to develop.
Through Neighbourhood Planning we are empowering and supporting local communities to bring forward neighbourhood plans which allocate their own housing sites and have so far committed over £26 million to support these activities.
Where any rural exception sites are proposed by applicants, they should be informed by clear evidence of a local need for affordable homes.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to promote housing development in areas where there is an identified local need but no housing allocation in the local plan.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The revised National Planning Policy Framework is clear that all housing need should be provided for. There are multiple tools in the revised Framework that can assist in delivering the homes areas need, including; through allocations in local plans, community led allocations in neighbourhood plans, windfall development and exception sites which target affordable housing need specifically.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities use access to broadband and mobile connectivity as a criterion within their settlement hierarchy assessments.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department does not collect data on how many local authorities use access to broadband and mobile connectivity as a criterion within their settlement hierarchy assessments. Authorities should gather and draw on appropriate evidence to inform the preparation of development plans and the National Planning Policy Framework sets out how planning policies and decisions should support the expansion and delivery of electronic communications networks.