Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what accounts taken of the fact that applicants have camped illegally on land for which they are applying for permission when considering planning applications.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Planning applications are decided in accordance with the development plan in place for the area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This is a matter for the relevant local planning authority to decide on a case-by-case basis.
The Government is clear that unauthorised development is unacceptable and unfair to the majority who abide by the rules.
The Government introduced a planning policy on 31 August 2015 to make intentional unauthorised development a material consideration that would be weighed in the determination of planning applications and appeals.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people have been owner-occupiers in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and what proportion those figures represent of total households.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The English Housing Survey collects information about the number and proportion of households who are owner occupiers. Data for the last 10 years are available in Annex Table 1.1, published here:
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will change building regulations to ensure that all new buildings are constructed with solar panels.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
There are no plans to change the Building Regulations to ensure that all new buildings are constructed with solar panels. Building Regulations are deliberately couched in performance terms and mandating a particular technology, such as solar panels, may not be appropriate for all new buildings in all areas.
The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy sets out that following the outcome of the independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, and subject to its conclusions, it intends to consult on strengthening energy requirements in building regulations where there are cost-effective and affordable opportunities, and it is safe and practical to do so.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what constitutes exceptional circumstances in his Department's planning guidance when applications to build on land designated as green belt are considered.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out strong protections for the Green Belt, and makes clear that a local authority may alter the shape of its Green Belt only in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan process. The Framework does not define these ‘exceptional circumstances’. However, in the Housing White Paper, Fixing our broken housing market, we proposed that a local authority should be able to alter a Green Belt boundary when it demonstrates that it has examined all other reasonable options for meeting its identified development needs, including:
- effective use of suitable brownfield and estate regeneration;
- the potential offered by under-used land (including surplus public sector land);
- optimising the density of development; and
- exploring whether other authorities can help to meet some of the identified development requirement.
We have been analysing the consultation responses on this proposed clarification, and will announce our conclusions in due course.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will change building regulations to make it compulsory for new buildings to be self-sufficient in energy through the fitting of solar panels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
New buildings are required to be energy efficient. New buildings are now required to be 30 per cent more energy efficient than they were in 2010. The technologies used to meet these standards are not prescribed. The government will keep these requirements under review.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will exempt Local Community Energy Schemes from paying business rates; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
At Budget 2016 the government announced cuts in business rates benefiting all ratepayers which are worth almost £9 billion over the next 5 years. In addition, the government set out a £435 million package of measures to support those businesses most impacted by the recent revaluation. The government keeps business rates under review and routinely meets stakeholders to discuss the business rates system.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assisted living accommodation is available for people with illness and disability who are below the age of 55; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions commissioned a ‘Supported Accommodation Review’ which was published in November 2016 (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-accommodation-review). This provides the following information on supported housing units provided for working-age adults (aged 65 or below) in England:
Client group – working-age adults | No of supported housing units – England*# |
| 38,500 |
| 29,500 |
| 9,000 |
* based on survey responses from 83 local authority commissioners between October and December 2015.
# see survey for figures for Wales and Scotland
Assisted living accommodation is often understood to mean supported housing that provides a higher level of support. The above figures will include a mixture of lower and higher needs support.
The Government recognises that the supported housing sector provides essential support to some of our country’s most vulnerable people. The sector is very diverse and, as well as supporting those suffering from disability or illness, also serves other vulnerable working-age client groups for example rough sleepers and homeless families, and people fleeing domestic abuse, and also includes sheltered housing for older people. It helps many people to lead independent lives in the community or to turn their lives around, and brings savings to other parts of the public sector such as health and social care.
We are committed to boosting the supply of supported housing for the vulnerable, including for people with disabilities. Since 2011, the Government has delivered 23,000 new supported homes in England across all client groups. We are continuing to fund delivery of new supported housing. We are spending £400 million announced through the Autumn 2015 Spending Review to deliver 8000 specialist affordable homes for older and vulnerable people. In addition, up to 6000 more supported housing units are by being funded by the Department of Health, via the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to businesses that are no longer eligible for Small Business Rate Relief as a result of the Mazars-v-Woolway judgment of 29 July 2015; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Supreme Court judgement in the case of Woolway (VO) v Mazars LLP will bring simplicity and consistency to the rating system. The Valuation Office Agency are responsible for implementing the decision independently of Ministers. We will keep this matter under review. From April we are permanently doubling small business rate relief meaning 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of houses which have planning permission that are not built within (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) five years.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Department does not hold this information.
The Housing White Paper includes proposed measures to improve quantity, quality and consistency of data on build out rates. This includes a proposed new requirement for developers to provide information about the delivery of new homes on sites with planning permission.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting local community energy projects from business rates.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Most non-domestic properties are subject to business rates and set by the independent Valuation Office Agency. The 2016 Budget announced the biggest ever cut in business rates, worth over £6 billion across the next five years. From April 2017 we are permanently doubling the level of Small Business Rate Relief and increasing the thresholds so that 600,000 businesses will pay no business rates at all. We have also given local authorities wide-ranging, discretionary powers to grant business rates discounts. The Government has no plans to offer further relief in respect of community energy projects.