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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 13 Jan 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

"T10. I declare an interest, as a member of the Crawley towns fund board.Can my right hon. Friend say a little more about how he envisages the realisation of the £3.6 billion that the Government are investing in our town centres and high streets?..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Written Question
Buildings: Construction
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) increase (a) building and (b) build quality throughout the country.

Answered by Kit Malthouse

The Government has set out an ambitious package of long-term reform to make the housing market work. We are taking end-to-end action across the housing system with measures to: release more land for homes where people want to live, build the homes we need faster, get more people building homes, and support people who need help now. We have committed more than £44 billion of financial support over five years to 2022/2023 to boost the delivery of housing and unblock barriers to more housebuilding.

We are also committed to ensuring that new homes are of good quality. In 2018, we announced a dedicated ombudsman for buyers of new homes and we intend to introduce legislation to require developers of new build homes to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman. The revised National Planning Policy Framework places a strong emphasis on design and makes clear that developments should be visually attractive and add to the overall quality of the area.

Our interventions are making a difference. Last year 222,190 homes were delivered, the highest in all but one of the last thirty years. This year numbers are expected to rise again, representing the 7th consecutive year of growth.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Mar 2019
Stronger Towns Fund

"Almost £1 billion has been allocated to the new stronger towns fund. When will we know when those allocations have been confirmed to individual communities?..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Mar 2019
Oral Answers to Questions

"On funding to local communities and the Stronger Towns fund announced earlier today, can I get an idea of how much Crawley constituency will get? It has two of the most deprived wards anywhere in the south-east. I do not want to hear from the Front Bench that we are …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 05 Feb 2019
Local Government Finance

"I thank the Secretary of State for including West Sussex in the business rates retention scheme and for the 4.2% increase the county council is getting. Crawley Borough Council has reserves of over £21 million. What more can be done to make sure that councils use such large reserves more …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Jan 2019
Oral Answers to Questions

"4. What steps his Department is taking to ensure an equitable distribution of funding to local authorities. ..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Jan 2019
Oral Answers to Questions

"This financial year the Government have granted Crawley Borough Council more than £700,000 for homelessness reduction, and this coming financial year it will be more than £800,000. However, the leadership of the council are complaining about a lack of capital funding for a homeless shelter when it has reserves of …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

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Written Question
Local Government: Crawley
Friday 18th January 2019

Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of allegations (a) of approximately £500,000 being spent inefficiently by Crawley Borough Council on a recent IT project and (b) that freedom of information requests by residents on that subject have not been fully responded to; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Rishi Sunak

Local councils act independently of central government. They are accountable for their actions to their electorate and there are mechanisms in place for local people to hold councils to account. This means that any questions about spending decisions, the delivery of services, or the performance of a council are for that council to respond to. If local people remain unsatisfied with the response they receive from the council they can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for advice.

In respect of Freedom of Information requests, if a requester is unhappy with the response of the local authority to their FOI requests, they can ask the independent Information Commissioner to investigate.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 23 Nov 2018
Parking (Code of Practice) Bill

"My right hon. Friend is continuing to make a powerful argument. One of my constituents recently parked at a McDonald’s so that he could go in and complain that his drive-thru order was incorrect, and he received a penalty notice. It is not only the small rogue operators that abuse …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Fri 23 Nov 2018
Parking (Code of Practice) Bill

"I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire (Sir Greg Knight) on introducing this timely Bill.

The hon. Gentleman is talking about parking companies that almost set motorists up to fail to be able to meet their terms, but it is not just the small operators who …..."
Henry Smith - View Speech

View all Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) contributions to the debate on: Parking (Code of Practice) Bill