Draft Local Government (Structural Changes) (Supplementary Provision and Amendment) Order 2023

Rachel Maclean Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2023 General Committees

[Hon. Members]

Hear, hear!

[The Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Rachel Maclean)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Local Government (Structural Changes) (Supplementary Provision and Amendment) Order 2023.

I thank hon. Members, and you, Mr Vickers, for calling me. The draft instrument was laid before the House on 12 December 2022. If approved and made, it will complete the legislative requirements to implement the locally led proposals for unitarisation in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset. It will make certain provisions specific to the new unitary councils of Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness, North Yorkshire and Somerset so that there is a smooth transition from the predecessor councils to the successor councils to continue effective local government in those areas.

In March 2022, following approval from Parliament, we passed the necessary secondary legislation to implement locally led proposals for local government reorganisation in those areas. The new councils will go live on 1 April 2023. The draft order is intended to be the last statutory instrument implementing the reorganisation in those areas, and it will make all the final technical arrangements for the continuation of effective local government. I pay tribute to all the local leaders and their officers who have worked so hard to implement the restructuring in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset, which will have a number of benefits for local residents and communities. I wish the new councils all the best for a successful launch while they respond to the remaining challenges.

The draft order addresses a number of incidental, consequential, transitional and supplementary issues, which could not be addressed in the existing regulations of generic application that enable the effective implementation of all unitary authorities. These provisions need to be applied directly with respect to these particular authorities, so the order makes a number of changes. I assure the Committee that we worked closely on its drafting with local leaders and senior officers in the shadow authorities of Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness, North Yorkshire and Somerset. We looked carefully at the issues raised and agreed that the provisions of the order meet local requirements.

In conclusion, the provisions are necessary, consequential changes in the light of the establishment of the new councils. They ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements and continued effective local government in the areas. I commend the draft order to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rachel Maclean]

Very briefly, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Luton North and look forward to many more exchanges with her. I am sure that not all of them will be as smooth sailing as today, but I am sure that they will all be conducted in the best traditions of this place, to which we are privileged to belong. I commend this order to the Committee and thank hon. Members for their consideration.

[The Chair]

I thank the Minister—we would not have wanted to miss out on that.

Question put and agreed to.

Brownfield Development and Green Belt

Rachel Maclean Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2023 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Rachel Maclean)]

It is a huge pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Fovargue. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) for securing this debate, and for the interest it has generated from colleagues from across the House and across our United Kingdom—it would not be the same without our friend the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).

I also thank colleagues for their kind words about my role, and the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook) for his words of welcome. I very much look forward to having many exchanges with him, and I stress the word “many”. I am sure they will all be polite and constructive, yet probing and robust when they need to be. He has definitely eased me in very well today, and in a very kind way, although no doubt that will not continue. However, we have enjoyed today.

Let me start by saying that there is so much that we all agree on in this debate. We all agree that brownfield regeneration is absolutely vital. I again pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills for her tireless championing of this cause and her constructive engagement with the Government ahead of the Report stage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. In her customary way, which we all know well, she raises so many practical points that her communities and residents have raised with her. That is a reflection of how she champions her constituents and the Black Country values that she represents so well in this House, and we all benefit from that.

We all know that redeveloping brownfield sites is not just better for the environment, but also holds the key to regenerating communities. The Government share my right hon. Friend’s view that, as I think every colleague has highlighted, we should do everything we can to protect our precious green-belt, greenfield, open-space and countryside land, while also making the best possible use of land that has already been developed—land that usually already benefits from mains drainage, power and road access.

That is exactly why the Government have pursued an unambiguous “brownfield first” approach to development. Indeed, I am sure my right hon. Friend will have seen that we have announced £60 million to help councils to free up their brownfield sites for regeneration and new homes. That is part of a much bigger pot of money—catchily entitled the brownfield land release fund 2—that is worth £180 million overall. This £180 million-worth of grant funding will help to accelerate the release of land for roughly 17,600 new homes by 2020. The brownfield housing fund has already had a transformative effect on communities. Let me answer the challenge that the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich posed about how the funding is allocated across our country. In November ’22, we announced that 57% of brownfield land release funding was allocated outside London and the south-east, which is of course consistent with the Government’s levelling-up aspirations.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills will know about the incredible work done by our friend Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority. She also highlighted the work of Councillor Mike Bird, with whom she has worked closely. The West Midlands Combined Authority has been a trailblazer for brownfield redevelopment, using £153 million from the fund to unlock over 10,000 new homes on brownfield sites.

She will know about projects such as the Lockside scheme, which will see 252 well-designed, high-quality homes built at the old Caparo Engineering site, and the transformation of the Harvestime bread factory, which has already delivered 88 much-needed new homes and a thriving community. An added benefit of that development is that it has tackled some of the crime and antisocial behaviour that used to be seen at the site.

Colleagues raised a huge number of points; I will try to respond to them in turn, using the time I have available. The hon. Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) gave us a fascinating insight into the civil war history of his constituency, and highlighted the similarity of the challenges facing us all, no matter which parts of our nation we represent. He asked about biodiversity and rare species on sites where development is proposed. He will know that we are putting the protection of habitats at the heart of the planning system, through the introduction of biodiversity net gain from November 2023; developers will need to assess the condition of the land they propose to develop and ensure there is better biodiversity value after development.

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) for all the work she has done throughout the passage of the Bill, under my predecessor, particularly with reference to new clause 21. She is working to rebalance the planning system and I listened carefully to all her comments. We should have a meeting to discuss the issues in a huge amount of detail, with the kind assistance of my officials, who have been working on this for a lot longer than the 48 hours I have had to do a massive reading sprint of all the comments and debates; we will do better justice to the issue by having a meeting. Although she said she would be obstinate, she was also incredibly polite, so I look forward to many future discussions with her.

The hon. Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) talked a lot about the brownfield remediation that is needed. The Government are reviewing the brownfield land planning system, and I am happy to write to her with more detail in response to some of her questions.

My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith) referred to the importance of food production—the food and drink that is produced in his constituency, and across the country—which is considered in the national planning policy framework. Again, I listened to his comments. He will know that the consultation is under way, and I invite him to join the meeting with my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet, or on another occasion when we can discuss the issues in more detail. I understand the frustration of some of his constituents.

The hon. Member for Strangford reminded me of a very happy trip I made to the Mourne mountains and the beautiful scenery of Northern Ireland—[Interruption.] I do not want to interrupt his conversation, but he reminded me of the wonderful time I had. I went through his constituency to another part of beautiful Northern Ireland, so I have seen it for myself. Although the system in Northern Ireland is devolved, we have many similar challenges and we can all learn from working with each other.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (James Sunderland) talked in favour of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill; I was grateful to hear his support. He talked about how it will regenerate high streets and communities, which we can all welcome. He highlights the importance of local plans to the quality of life of the people who already live there.

Last but not least, I come to my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup). I well remember her long record of campaigning and how she started her journey to this House. I have no doubt that she will never give up, as she set out in her motto. I hope I can assist her campaign by promising to set up a meeting with her as soon as I can; I am looking to my very helpful officials, who no doubt are scrutinising the debate closely.

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills for securing this useful and constructive debate. Having been in the job for two days, it is an honour to be here discussing these issues that touch all our constituents, in every single community, no matter where we live. The Government have a mission to level up the United Kingdom and build beautiful homes in the places where people want to live. We all want homes to be available for our children—or in my case, my granddaughter. I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend; she talked about the excitement of first getting the keys to her new home, and that is the balance we seek to achieve in our work. We are thoroughly committed to working with all hon. Members across the House in that endeavour, and we will continue to build the right homes in the right places for the people who need them most.

Levelling Up Rural Britain

Rachel Maclean Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to make a contribution to this vital debate. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) for securing it.

Many of my constituents may wonder why I am speaking in a debate about rural Britain. I am blessed with a diverse constituency, of which the wonderful town of Redditch constitutes only one part. I am privileged to represent parts of the Wychavon district including the Lenches, Cookhill, Abbots Morton, Inkberrow, Stock and Bradley Green, Hanbury and parts of Feckenham. Assuming the boundary changes go ahead as set out this week, in future the constituency will also include the wards of Harvington and Norton, and Dodderhill, which will mean that the MP for Redditch will represent Lenchwick, Upton Warren, Wychbold and Stoke Works.

It is vital that when we speak about levelling up we do not confine ourselves to a mythical north-south divide, but consider inequalities within constituencies and the rural-urban divide. Even areas that look prosperous and, in fact, are prosperous on the surface can hide considerable deprivation that we ought not to be afraid to care about. It is right to help the most vulnerable in my constituency, wherever they live. Within the new constituency boundary there is a ward that is in the most deprived 20% nationally, in Harvington and Norton.

Although my remarks could cover a plethora of subjects important to my rural constituents, such as healthcare, the environment, planning, crime, education, speeding, agriculture and nature to name but a few, as I have only limited time, I will concentrate on three key pledges that I made to my constituents.

First, on rural transport, bus services are absolutely vital for my constituents to access work, leisure and education, and these services are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic all over the country. That is why I strongly welcome the actions of the Government and Conservative-run Worcestershire County Council, which has, with the help of the bus recovery grant, safeguarded more than 200 routes across Worcestershire that were on the verge of collapse. Unfortunately, that intervention clearly cannot be sustained forever, which is why I think that demand-responsive transport is a vital link in this jigsaw.

The plans are to expand demand-responsive transport to include rural areas in 2023, but unfortunately the county council does not have any specific support from the Government to do that, so it will have to be a trade-off between subsidising services and investing in demand-responsive transport. It would be really helpful if the Government were able to revisit the bus service improvement plan funding, as Worcestershire got nothing, but the urban West Midlands, just up the road, got more than £86 million, and it already benefits from higher passenger numbers. There are rumours of a second round for BSIP, but nothing concrete as yet, so I would be grateful if the Minister said in his concluding remarks if he is aware of any further funding that could be made available.

Secondly, broadband is an ongoing issue, as we have already heard from other colleagues, and it affects my rural constituents as well. In fact, I live in a rural area of my constituency and often need to work from home, and like many of my constituents I know the impact this has. It is not only professionals who are impacted by poor broadband access, but children and young people who need to complete homework, access education, or get involved in local community and youth groups.

I really welcome the progress that the Government have made in rolling out broadband across the country under the £5 billion Project Gigabit programme, together with the £500 million investment in the shared rural network. In fact, figures from the House of Commons Library show that more than 96% of households and businesses in my constituency do have access to superfast broadband. The data show that Redditch is one of the best-connected constituencies in the country, with average broadband speeds 28% higher than the national average.

Of course, this is great news, but as in all things, the details show that there is patchy coverage. My recent broadband survey, which I sent to 3,000 homes in the villages, demonstrated that there is still more to do. Hundreds of residents completed the survey, which was sent to villagers in Feckenham, Bradley Green, Stock Green, Cookhill, Inkberrow, the Lenches, Hanbury and the surrounding areas. I heard of many who are still living with the consequences of being in a hard-to-reach area. I am determined to continue pressing for better connectivity for all my constituents, whether they live in a hotspot or a notspot.

Thirdly, on planning and housing, it is right that we always seek to balance the two potentially competing demands of building the new homes our communities and young people need, and of seeking to preserve the reason why people live here in the first place, which is the unique and beautiful character of the Worcestershire environment. I pay tribute to Wychavon District Council, which is working with the renowned organisation Create Streets with an aspiration for Wychavon to become a leading rural authority for good urban design.

However, I must say a word about the proposed solar farm development at Roundhill, which I am afraid is not an example of good design, placemaking or sustainability. This proposal would plonk 287 acres—140 football pitches—of solar panels on good agricultural land. I have worked closely with the members of the Roundhill Wood solar farm opposition group, and as a result of hearing their concerns, I carried out a survey of hundreds of residents living in the local area to gauge their views. The overwhelming majority of course support renewable energy, but they are opposed or strongly opposed to the development for many reasons, including the in my view very good reason that this land ought to be used to grow food, especially at this time of war in Ukraine when we as a nation should be shoring up our food security. No one is opposed to such renewable energy, but it should be installed on rooftops, car parks, office buildings or brownfield land. I want to thank the campaigners for all the hard work they are doing and to let them know that I will continue to stand up for them. I do not believe that our levelling-up agenda will be served by solar farms of this scale and size.

Finally, whether people live in Redditch or the villages, everyone is worried about the cost of living and the impact on the most vulnerable, so I welcome the investment from Wychavon District Council in the form of targeted interventions for the most disadvantaged children, including speech and language hubs, after-school clubs, specialist help with maths, breakfast clubs and social mobility grants, which help those not in education, employment or training with opportunities to progress and enter the jobs market.

As we look to the Budget next week, I urge the Chancellor and the Prime Minister to continue their commitment to levelling up in rural Worcestershire as well as our town centre. Levelling up rural Worcestershire and the villages of my constituency is not done to the detriment of Redditch town centre. It is not a zero sum game—quite the contrary. By making our wonderful villages attractive, accessible and desirable, we encourage people to come to our county and use the facilities in Redditch town centre. It is a win-win that creates a virtuous circle of growth and prosperity, with more business for local shops and leisure facilities, and more residents paying taxes to fund the vital public services that we all rely on, such as the Alex in particular.

Rural local authorities still receive 37% less in settlement funding assessment per head than urban areas. So it is clear that we must focus on levelling up the whole country and ensuring that rural Worcestershire is not left behind in this essential mission.

Criminal Law

Rachel Maclean Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow the incredible contributions of my hon. Friends, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Dehenna Davison)—she is so new to this place, yet she speaks with such passion—and my more experienced hon. Friend the Member for Telford (Lucy Allan), who has championed this issue. We are all in awe of them.

This is a manifesto commitment, as the Minister said, and we politicians must take seriously our efforts to keep our promises to the public. The Government must be on the side of law-abiding people who do the right thing, and we must have a care for the victims of heinous crimes.

Many colleagues have spoken about getting sentencing right. This is not about just locking people up and throwing away the key. The scales of justice are there for a reason. We must be tough on people who commit crimes, but we must also be tough in providing opportunities to help those who want to reform. In a compassionate and civilised society, we must never lose sight of that, as it is the ultimate mark of a Government who are truly compassionate and who care about social justice.

To that end, I wish to use my time to touch on an organisation of which I have personal experience and which will be familiar to Members of this House—Learning Together. One of my sons was a volunteer for that charity while at Cambridge University. He started his volunteering when he first studied there, and he has told me that it was the most profound and meaningful experience he had while at Cambridge. He saw at first hand the impact he had when he was working with prisoners, some of whom could not read or write. Some of the work he was doing there with his fellow students at Cambridge was truly transformational, so I want to speak up for charities such as that, which are doing difficult work; we are all familiar with the Fishmongers’ Hall tragedy. We as a Government must continue to support those charities and allow them to work with criminals, and even terrorists, to reform them if possible.

I also want to speak about an organisation called RoadPeace, which is involved in my constituency. My friend Lucy Harrison has brought this charity to my attention. What RoadPeace is doing is relevant for the Minister when he comes to look at the wider powers in the sentencing Bill. It is calling for driving crime to be looked at as “real crime”. My friend Lucy lost her brother, and it had a profound impact on her life. We definitely need to look at sentencing for driving crimes, as it is currently not adequate. I am sure that many of our constituents all across the country who have experience of that would like to see the system changed.

The Government are looking at justice across the board, doing our best and introducing real change to the system, in order to keep the public safe. We are introducing 20,000 new police officers and 10,000 new prison places. This Government are on the side of people doing the right thing, so I welcome these measures and thank the Front-Bench team for what they have done to bring it forward.