Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential differential impact of the local government finance system on local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 20 November the government published the Local Government Finance Policy Statement which sets out our plans for the 2026-27 to 2028-28 multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement. These plans represent a fairer system for all authorities which recognises the variation in demand and the cost of providing services in different places and the vast majority of social care authorities will receive a real terms increase.
The government wants to move decisively to a reformed system, but we have heard clearly that we need to implement funding reform in 2026-27 with transitional arrangements to allow time to adjust. We will therefore phase in allocations over the multi-year Settlement and protect the income of authorities which would see losses from funding reform. We will use a range of funding floor levels appropriate to specific groups of authorities’ circumstances. Further details can be found here: Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 - GOV.UK .
These changes will not fix the challenges facing local government overnight. Tough decisions are required on all sides, but these proposals are a fundamental step to improving the sustainability of local government in the years to come and will allow councils to focus on service delivery and transformation.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she had made of the potential impact of the planning process for building film studios on economic growth.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to supporting the growth of the creative industries, including film production.
As part of its forthcoming industrial strategy, the government will publish a creative industries sector plan which will include actions to support the film and TV sector.
While capacity and need would be material planning considerations in assessing any specific application, and each case is assessed on its own merits, the government is supportive of the development of appropriate new studio space.
We have not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of the planning process for building film studios on economic growth.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support the conversion of (a) vacant and (b) underused mills into (i) housing and (ii) commercial space in (A) Bury North constituency and (B) the North of England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes and other uses and promoting an effective and efficient use of land. This includes supporting opportunities to remediate derelict land and the development of under-utilised land and buildings, especially to meet housing needs.
In relation to commercial space, a permitted development right enables change of use of Class B2 General Industrial buildings to Class B8 Storage and Distribution, subject to size limit of 500 square metres of floorspace changing use. Mills are likely to fall into the Class B2 use class.
Homes England and its local authority partners are working with mill owners across Greater Manchester to bring redundant mills back into life as housing. This includes the Eckersley Mill complex in Wigan, which is the subject of joint working between the Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Homes England to bring forward a range of uses, including 800 homes. The first phase is commercial and has been part funded by Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund.
Although the site is not within the Bury North constituency, Homes England also acted jointly with Bury Council to dispose of East Lancs Paper Mill site for the development of around 400 new homes.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Answer of 26 March to Question 133676, how he proposes to take forward the garden city principles, other than those of design, now that those principles will no longer be included in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The consultation on draft changes to the National Planning Policy Framework closes on 10 May. Following this, we will consider whether further amendments are needed in the light of the comments received, including those relating to garden city principles.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons garden city principles were omitted from the draft National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The revised draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the importance of securing high standards of sustainable design in all developments, not just in new settlements and garden cities.
We announced at Budget the intention for up to five new garden towns and remain committed to working with ambitious authorities through the Garden Towns and Villages programme.
The consultation on the revised draft NPPF closes on 10 May 2018.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 ensure that charging infrastructure for plug-in electric cars is included in new housing developments.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Government’s Industrial Strategy, published in November 2017, sets out the ways in which the Government is supporting electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The strategy includes a commitment to update Building Regulations to mandate that all new residential developments must contain the enabling cabling for charge-points in the home, taking account of the independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety being undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will list the organisations and businesses he has had discussions with on the use of open-ended ground rent arrangements on new build leasehold properties in the last six months.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Secretary of State met Long Harbour and the Home Builders Federation and had discussions on the use of open-ended ground rent arrangements on new build leasehold properties. In addition, Alok Sharma, the previous Minister of State for Housing, met the Building Societies Association to have similar discussions.
The Government responded to the ‘Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market’ consultation on 21 December 2017, with proposals to improve transparency and fairness for leaseholders. These represent the first major reforms to leasehold law since 2002, and include plans to set new ground rents to a peppercorn, to ban the sale of leasehold houses, and grant freeholders new rights to challenge charges.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the findings of his Department's consultation on tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, which closed on 19 September 2017.
Answered by Lord Sharma
I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made today by the Secretary of State (HCWS384).
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure small businesses working in separate parts of a building linked by communal staircases, lifts and corridors do not have those spaces classed as separate premises by the Valuation Office when business rates are being assessed.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government is aware of the change in the Valuation Office Agency’s approach to assessing units within buildings of multiple occupation, following the Supreme Court judgement in the Mazars v Woolway case. The Government is considering the implications of this judgement.