Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
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 encourage local authorities to protect allotments from development.
Answered by Stephen Williams
On 30 January, 2014 the Department published new guidance for local authorities and communities: “Allotment Disposal Guidance: Safeguards and alternatives”, which is intended to clarify the legal and policy safeguards in place to ensure that disposal is properly and thoroughly handled.
Through the Community Rights, Government has helped communities to protect allotments – over 20% of the first 50 neighbourhood plans promote allotments and around 50 allotment sites have been listed as ‘assets of community value’ meaning that the allotment holders on these sites would be able to pause the sale of land for up to 6 months to give them the opportunity to raise the money to buy it.
I also refer my rt. hon. Friend to the increase in allotment provision under this Government, as outlined in my answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, Column 645-646W.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on the level of salaries paid to local authority chief executives; what guidance his Department gives to local councils on that matter; what measures are in place to prevent excessive salaries being paid by local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Government’s approach to senior pay and reward in local government is set out in the Government’s response to the recent Communities and Local Government Select Committee inquiry into local government chief officers’ remuneration, which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/response-to-report-on-local-government-chief-officers-remuneration
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the scope and range of the business interests and landholdings of local authorities; and if he will introduce restrictions on the scope of acquisition, expenditure and activity by local authorities in areas which bear no relation to their functions.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Local authorities are accountable to their local residents and taxpayers. We have no plans to impose new monitoring regimes or restrictions. Indeed, councils now have a general power of competence under the Localism Act, and we have rolled back top-down inspection and performance management.
We are committed to greater local accountability and transparency; for example, the updated local government Transparency Code now requires councils to publish their land holding and property assets. We are also taking steps to increase the transparency of local authority-owned companies.
Local authorities should be using their surplus and redundant land and assets to promote economic growth and provide brownfield land for new homes. There is significant potential for them to work with the private sector in this regard, subject to taking appropriate steps to ensure planning probity.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he has given local authorities on ensuring that road safety is not compromised by street lighting being switched off; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Street lighting plays an important role in road safety, as well as ensuring the personal safety of pedestrians.
As I stated in my answer to the rt. hon. Member for Leeds Central, (Hilary Benn), on 13 May 2014, Official Report, Column 535-536W, there is no prescriptive Whitehall guidance on street lighting, and any assessment will depend on local circumstances and local views. In addition, Manual for Streets, while out of date in certain areas (e.g. on parking and density), contains some useful guidance on getting the balance right when providing street lighting, taking into account the different issues around safety, crime prevention, street clutter and light pollution. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets.