Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on allocating financial support to leaseholders to replace dangerous cladding; and what additional funding is being provided to fire services to pay for extra inspections of affected buildings.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We understand the concerns of many leaseholders and building owners over the cost of remediation of cladding. This is why we have made £1 billion available to expedite and fund the removal of unsafe non-Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding in 2020/21. This is in addition to the £600 million made available already to ensure the remediation of unsafe ACM cladding. Progress on the ACM fund can be viewed in the monthly Building Safety Data Release, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data. As for non-ACM funding, we published the Building Safety Fund application guidance for buildings in both the social and private sectors on 31 July and opened the application process.
The Department will keep demand for the Fund under review and will in future publish regular updates regarding the allocation of funding against the budget available in the Building Safety Programme’s data release when ready. This release includes data and analysis related to the monitoring of the remediation of unsafe cladding.
This year the Government has provided £10 million of additional funding to improve inspection capacity and capability on high-rise residential buildings. This is supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council to establish a new national infrastructure to support frontline protection work and the Fire and Rescue Services to conduct a Building Risk Review of all high rise residential buildings over 18 metres by the end of 2021.
Asked by: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has for a public consultation on the Government's proposals for changes to the planning system; what changes to regulations on (a) height, (b) appearance and (c) quality are proposed; what steps he plans to take to ensure that new houses will be built in addition to flats; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that new houses will be built on brownfield land and not in the countryside.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Public consultation on the Planning for the Future White Paper began on 6 August and closes on 29 October. The White Paper sets out an ambitious vision for improving the design of buildings and places, through the widespread use of design codes and pattern books that are supported by local communities.
The White Paper also sets out proposals for a binding housing requirement that would be adjusted to take account of local constraints, such as the Green Belt and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The requirement figures would need to reflect the importance of using brownfield land, but ultimately it would be for local authorities to decide how best to meet their housing requirement locally, including the different types of homes needed in each area.