Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to prevent owners of freehold properties who have been tied into long-term contracts from being charged to make minor alterations to their property.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government’s consultation, Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market, considered a number of issues within the leasehold sector including the issue of freeholder charges. The consultation closed on 19 September and the Government will respond shortly.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many times the power he has under section 17(7) of the Town and Country Planning (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000/1624 to reopen a planning inquiry has been exercised by him and his predecessors to allow an appellant to adduce further evidence in their favour since the introduction of those rules.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Secretary of State has the power to re-open a public inquiry as he thinks fit, for example if he considers that would be the best way to allow parties to put forward any further evidence and for parties to respond to any such evidence. No records are kept of how frequently that has occurred.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his decision to reopen the planning inquiry into the highways safety aspects of Cuadrilla Resources' appeal against Lancashire County Council's decision to refuse planning permission to build shale gas wells at its Roseacre Wood site, whether the analysis supporting his decision differs from that of the inspector concerned on any matter of fact mentioned in or otherwise material to a conclusion reached by that inspector in that case; and what new evidence or new matter of fact he has taken into consideration on the highways safety aspects of that case that has informed his decision to reopen the planning inquiry.
Answered by Lord Barwell
Full reasons for the Secretary of State’s decision are set out in the decision letter that was published on 6 October 2016.
In reaching his decision, the Secretary of State took into account the wide range of relevant issues that were raised and evidence that was put forward in this appeal, as well as the detailed findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Planning Inspector who held a public inquiry.
The decision letter and the Inspector’s Report are available at:
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 support high street retailers.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
This Government is supporting our high streets to thrive. We have introduced the biggest ever cut in business rates, worth £6.7 billion; launched the High Street pledge and digital high street pilots; introduced a fairer parking regime and sensible planning changes; and we are celebrating our high streets through the hugely successful annual Great British High Street Competition.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he provides to local councils to help them secure faster build-out rates from new developments.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The National Planning Policy Framework clearly sets out that local authorities should work proactively with developers to secure developments that improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of their areas. We are taking forward measures to speed up the process of discharging planning conditions, which will help ensure work starts on site quickly once planning permission has been granted. In addition, in their statement on 11 May 2016, the House Builder’s Federation announced steps they would take to improve transparency about build out and help inform both plan making and planning decisions.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 support Lancashire County Council in (a) keeping library buildings open and (b) sustaining the function of those buildings as libraries.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities and it is a matter for local authorities to determine how best to provide a comprehensive and efficient public library service to their local community, within available resources.
Lancashire County Council has a Core Spending Power per dwelling of £1321 for 2016-17 rising to £1392 per dwelling by 2019-20.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport, together with the Local Government Association, has set up a Leadership for Libraries Taskforce to help public libraries in England build on good practice and add value for the communities they serve. The Taskforce is currently consulting on the attached document at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/libraries-deliver-ambition-for-publiclibraries-in-england-2016-2021 which sets out the ambition for public libraries in the future. Furthermore, thanks to Government funding, free Wi-Fi is available to 99% of public libraries in England.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Lancashire Enterprise Partnership in progressing Growth Deal projects.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership Growth Deal with Government will invest over £250 million across Lancashire.
Good progress has been made to date, with 15 out of the 39 projects in the programme underway, and a further 13 due to commence shortly.
Projects under construction will, amongst other outcomes, support the construction of 850 housing units, create over 2,000 jobs and add over £28 million GVA per annum to the local economy.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provided to Lancashire County Council on the formulation of its service planning areas.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
DCLG does not have a record of advice given to Lancashire County Council on the formulation of its service planning areas, or requests for such advice.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 encourage businesses into high street premises in town and city centres.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government has taken action to help high streets thrive through a range of targeted tax breaks, sensible planning changes and measures to ensure fairer parking for motorists. At Budget, we announced the biggest ever cut in business rates in England – worth £6.7 billion over the next five years, cutting business rates for all ratepayers, and meaning 600,000 of the smallest businesses won’t have to pay business rates again
We have also given over £18 million to fund successful initiatives such as “Love Your Local Market” and the “Great British High Street Competition”, and have recently announced a digital pilot programme in Gloucestershire, to support town centres and SMEs to compete in the digital era.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what he weight he plans to give to the views of people living close to the proposed shale gas well at Roseacre and Preston New Road in the process for considering planning appeals by Cuadrilla Resources to build wells at those sites.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
A planning appeal is a quasi-judicial process, and every application needs to be considered on its individual merits, with due process, in light of the relevant material considerations. To avoid prejudicing the decisions, I should not comment further but can reassure my hon. Friend that all relevant issues identified by local people in the current appeals by Cuadrilla Resources will be given very careful consideration.