Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many properties purchased through the Help to Buy scheme in (a) Telford constituency, (b) Telford and Wrekin borough and (c) England were purchased by (i) leasehold and (ii) freehold in each year since the inception of that scheme.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Help to Buy: Equity Loan data is set out in the quarterly statistical release covering April 2013 to September 2017:
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support has been made available to (a) Shropshire County Council and (b) Telford and Wrekin Council for the provision of domestic refuges since 2010.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Local authorities are responsible for making local spending decisions. In our Priorities for Domestic Abuse Services, published in 2016, we acknowledged the importance of local authorities taking a strategic approach to provision of these vital services informed by an assessment of local need.
Since 2014, the Department has dedicated £33.5 million in direct grant funding available to all local authorities for refuges, safe accommodation and other services.
In 2015 the Department launched a one year £3.5 million fund to help support victims of domestic abuse. Shropshire County Council submitted a successful bid for this fund and was awarded £45,156. Telford and Wrekin did not submit a bid for this round of funding.
In 2016, the Department launched a two year, £20 million fund for specialist accommodation based support and service reform to meet the Priorities for Domestic Abuse Services. Shropshire County Council worked in partnership with Telford and Wrekin Council and local domestic abuse services to submit a bid and were awarded £115,753.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the levels of home ownership have been in England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Data on home ownership rates can be found on the department's website. See AT 1.1 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/676433/2016-17_Section_1_Households_Annex_Tables.xlsx
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect green belt and green open spaces in the Telford and Wrekin local authority area.
Answered by Dominic Raab
This Government has a clear manifesto commitment to maintain strong protections for Green Belt. This will be carried forward in the revision of the National Planning Policy Framework that we are publishing for consultation. We will review the draft Framework in the light of the consultation responses we receive, before issuing the new Framework later in the year.
At the same time we are considering what supporting guidance will be necessary. We are not proposing any alteration to national policy on Local Green Spaces. These are green areas demonstrably special to a nearby community and significant locally for their beauty, historic significance, recreational value, tranquillity or wildlife. Local communities will continue to be able to designate these spaces in Local Plans to rule out inappropriate development there other than in very special circumstances.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding is available to regenerate and renew new town infrastructure.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The 2017 Autumn Budget set out government's ambition to deliver five new garden towns. Government will bring together public and private capital to deliver these new towns in areas of high demand, and work with local partners and the private sector to do so. We are determined that housing growth is supported by the right infrastructure at the right time. Our £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund shows just how serious we are about that.
There are a range of further funding sources available to support the development of housing and the associated infrastructure required. Mayoral combined authorities in particular have devolved funds and could allocate parts of their Investment Funds towards supporting this. Government also committed in the 2017 Autumn Budget to publish a consultation on changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and developer contributions, which will help the public sector capture rising land values from additional public investment. The government will also encourage authorities to explore the introduction of a Strategic Infrastructure Tariff, in addition to CIL, supported by appropriate governance arrangements.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his Department's policy is on the future of New Towns.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Across England, we are currently supporting 24 locally-led garden communities to be exemplars of high quality, good design and best practice. Together, they have the potential to deliver up to 220,000 homes. Our support has helped foster local ambition to accelerate the pace of delivery, with over 12,000 new homes started. This support has included provision of £19 million of capacity funding expert delivery advice from Homes England and cross-government brokerage to resolve barriers.
At Autumn Budget 2017 we announced we will extend this support to the delivery of a further 5 locally led garden towns that will seek to bring together public and private capital. To deliver on this ambition we will introduce legislation to enable locally accountable New Town Development Corporations to be created as a key instrument of delivery.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) new-build planning approvals were granted and (b) how many new houses were built in Telford constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dominic Raab
1. Numbers of major and minor residential planning applications decided by each local authority district, in the year to 30 September 2017, are shown in Live Table P136 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics
Earlier versions of table P136 are also available from the same link:
those for years ending July 2012 to June 2017 are under the heading, “Historical Live Tables”, and
those for years ending September 2010 to June 2012 are available from the relevant link to the National Archives.
These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.
2. Estimates of house building for new build dwellings completions for England and in each local authority district, to September quarter 2017, are shown in Live Table 253a at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
These cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply. The department also publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply.
These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking increase the provision of starter homes in Telford constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
We are supporting people's aspirations to buy through a range of initiatives including Help to Buy, Right to Buy, greater funding for Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy, and our plans for starter homes. Since Spring 2010 Government-backed schemes have helped over 433,000 households to buy a home and the number of first-time buyers is at a nine-year annual high. At the last Budget, the Government announced that first-time buyers will pay zero stamp duty on the first £300,000 of any home that costs up to £500,000.
The definition of starter homes is being finalised as part of the revised draft National Planning Policy Framework, which we will be publishing shortly.