Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 strengthen policies relating to food-growing in the National Planning Policy Framework to identify the importance of local food-growing opportunities and the affordability of, and access to, suitable land and associated housing for food-growing.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The use of best and most versatile farmland is for local planning authorities to lead through their Local Plans. This enables local communities to be consulted and to decide where development should go, and what local food-growing opportunities should be taken forward.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the importance for local planning authorities of taking account of the benefits of the best and most versatile farmland in preparing their Local Plans, including consideration of access to affordable, sustainable and healthy food.
Local planning authorities must consult Natural England before permitting non-agricultural development on significant areas of such land if this is outside the Local Plan.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward plans to strengthen the protection of best and most versatile agricultural land in national planning policy.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The use of best and most versatile farmland is for local planning authorities to lead through their Local Plans. This enables local communities to be consulted and to decide where development should go, and what local food-growing opportunities should be taken forward.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the importance for local planning authorities of taking account of the benefits of the best and most versatile farmland in preparing their Local Plans, including consideration of access to affordable, sustainable and healthy food.
Local planning authorities must consult Natural England before permitting non-agricultural development on significant areas of such land if this is outside the Local Plan.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent comparative assessment his Department has made of the supply of and demand for affordable housing in (a) Bristol and (b) the South West region.
Answered by Stephen Williams
The Department has made no centralised comparative assessment. Local planning authorities are responsible for assessing and providing for affordable housing needs. 1,950 new affordable homes have been provided in Bristol since 2010.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities have approved planning applications for rabbit farms in each of the last five years for which data is available; and how many such farms were approved by each local authority in that period.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The requested information is not held by the Department. Although the Department collects information from local planning authorities on the numbers of planning applications decided each quarter, the numbers of applications relating to rabbit farms are not separately identified.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications there were to set up rabbit farms in England in each of the last five years for which information is available.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The requested information is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to music venues facing potential closure from noise abatement notices as a result of change of use of neighbouring buildings under permitted development rights.
Answered by Nick Boles
[Holding Reply: Tuesday 17 June 2014]
Under nuisance law, it is for a local authority to decide on a case by case basis whether or not a noise constitutes a statutory nuisance. The ‘character of the locality' is one of a number of relevant facts that would be taken into account, and well-established music venues would certainly be a consideration in assessing the reasonableness of the activity being carried out.
The National Planning Policy Framework states that existing businesses wanting to develop in continuance of their business should not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in nearby land uses since they were established. This policy is clearly material when considering planning enforcement cases in relation to new land use changes nearby. Our new suite of planning guidance directly addresses the issue of noise, including advice on noise mitigation measures. This can be found online at:
http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/noise/noise-guidance/
The licensing process also provides an adjudication mechanism between local residents and licensed premises by which practical measures can be introduced to control and mitigate noise. Statutory guidance recommends practical conditions such as closing doors and windows, the installation of acoustic curtains or rubber speaker mounts. Whilst recognising the need to tackle public nuisance, the guidance also advises that licensing authorities should be aware of the need to avoid inappropriate or disproportionate measures that could deter events that are valuable to the community, such as live music.
More broadly, it is also in the commercial interests of any developer wishing to sell and market new residential accommodation near an existing music venue or licensed premises, or indeed in any urban environment, to take into account nearby noise, and seek to address that via good internal design and appropriate mitigation mechanisms (such as double glazing).
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 people of no faith are consulted and listened to when formulating policy on faith and communities.
Answered by Stephen Williams
The ‘Creating the Conditions for Integration' paper sets out the Government's approach to achieving a more integrated society, for everyone of faith and of no faith to live and work successfully alongside each other. In September 2012 my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister appointed my noble Friend, Baroness Warsi as Minister for Faith and Communities. Along with colleagues, such as myself, the Minister has worked closely with faith and non-faith groups on an approach to integration.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with (i) secularist and (b) humanist organisations since May 2010.
Answered by Stephen Williams
Ministers have regular meetings with a range of different partners and organisations. Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published on the Department's website.