Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that solar panels form part of the infrastructure for all new buildings.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Regulations and planning reforms encourage the use of renewables without mandating any particular technology. Mandating a particular renewable technology, such as solar panels, may not be appropriate for all building types in all areas. Building regulations are deliberately couched in performance terms, allowing builders, local councils and architects the flexibility to select from a range of renewable energy technologies to suit the potentially unique circumstances of a particular development.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to representations received for the consultation on the housing white paper which closed on 2 May 2017.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Responses to the White Paper Fixing Our Broken Housing Market are being analysed at present. The Government intends to issue a response in due course.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on devolution for Devon and Somerset.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Government is committed to working with places to generate growth and jobs. This is not a one-size-fits-all process; for example, mayoral governance may be appropriate for cities but not rural counties. We will continue to work with Devon and Somerset to ensure they have the tools to drive growth.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that rent-to-buy products are within the definition of affordable housing for the purposes of local authority section 106 agreements.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Our White paper Fixing the Broken Housing Market, published in February, made clear that Rent to Buy products can help to meet affordable housing needs. We intend to reflect this in an updated definition of affordable housing for planning purposes when the National Planning Policy Framework is reviewed. We are also investing £7.1 billion in the Affordable Homes Programme to deliver 225,000 affordable housing starts by March 2021, including Rent to Buy homes.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 successful bidders initial funding allocations published on 5 January 2017, if he will provide information on the initial funding allocations for (a) rent to buy and (b) shared ownership homes by provider.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Information on the breakdown by tenure by provider is commercially sensitive and subject to change until contracts are signed, so the Department is unable to provide this information now. The Homes and Communities Agency will publish quarterly updates of the programme that will include details of all grant-confirmed schemes.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government's response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee's report on national planning policy will be published before the summer recess.
Answered by Lord Barwell
We are carefully considering the 1,100 responses to the consultation, and expect to publish the response to the consultation and to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report in the Autumn.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the conclusions of his Department's consultation on proposed changes to National Planning Policy will be published before the summer recess.
Answered by Lord Barwell
We are carefully considering the 1,100 responses to the consultation, and expect to publish the response to the consultation and to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report in the Autumn.