Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of Right to Build legislation on demand for self and custom build housing development.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government strongly believes that self and custom build housing can play a crucial role as part of a wider package of measures to boost home ownership and diversify the housing market as well as helping to deliver the homes people want.
We have put in place a number of interventions to support the sector, including the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding legislation, sometimes known as 'the Right to Build', which is focussed on bringing forward more land. In the last reporting period to October 2022, local authorities reported that there was a total of 63,662 individuals and 807 associations on the register in total.
The Government has also provided access to developer finance through the Levelling up Home Building Fund; provided support for local authorities to bring forward self and custom build projects through the Brownfield Land Release Fund and the Right to Build Task Force; and provided access to affordable mortgage finance through the Help to Build: Equity Loan Scheme.
In 2021 the Government commissioned Richard Bacon MP to undertake a review to establish a plan to scale up self and custom build housing. The Government published its response to these recommendations in June 2022.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to help expand the development of self- and custom-build housing.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government strongly believes that self and custom build housing can play a crucial role as part of a wider package of measures to boost home ownership and diversify the housing market as well as helping to deliver the homes people want.
We have put in place a number of interventions to support the sector, including the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding legislation, sometimes known as 'the Right to Build', which is focussed on bringing forward more land. In the last reporting period to October 2022, local authorities reported that there was a total of 63,662 individuals and 807 associations on the register in total.
The Government has also provided access to developer finance through the Levelling up Home Building Fund; provided support for local authorities to bring forward self and custom build projects through the Brownfield Land Release Fund and the Right to Build Task Force; and provided access to affordable mortgage finance through the Help to Build: Equity Loan Scheme.
In 2021 the Government commissioned Richard Bacon MP to undertake a review to establish a plan to scale up self and custom build housing. The Government published its response to these recommendations in June 2022.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the availability of self-build mortgages.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department regularly monitors the mortgage market. In response to availability of affordable mortgage finance within the self and custom build market the Government has introduced the Help to Build scheme. The scheme provides access to low deposit mortgages and improves affordability of home ownership for people who want to build their own homes.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to extend the Help to Build: Equity Loan to up to 40% of estimated land and building costs to South East England.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Help to Build scheme provides access to low deposit mortgages and improves affordability of home ownership for people who want to build their own homes. Modelled, in part, on the original Help to Buy scheme, customers can borrow an equity loan of between 5% and 20% (up to 40% in London) of the estimated costs to buy the land (if needed) and build their home. Currently there are no plans to alter the percentage of equity loan available in the scheme.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to potentially (a) increase turnout and (b) reduce costs to the public purse by holding local government, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections on the same day every four years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Government has no plans to impose a change on the pattern of local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections, but agrees that holding concurrent elections can reduce costs and increase turnout.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the average cost to build a house including the purchase of land in (a) North East Hampshire constituency, (b) the North East and (c) the North West.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Department does not hold data on the average cost of building a house, including the purchase of land. The Department has published 'Land Value Estimates for policy appraisal 2019'. These show at local level the value of agricultural land before development. They also show the residual land value after development (broken down by residential, commercial and industrial). These tables, as well as guidance for their use, can be found online at gov.uk here.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his department's policy to help more families get on the housing ladder by (a) increasing the maximum household income limits for shared ownership properties to £110,000 outside London and £130,000 in London and (b) introducing an intermediate South East limit of £120,000.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
To purchase a Shared Ownership home, applicants must have a gross household income of £90,000 or less in London, and £80,000 or less across the rest of the country. Applicants must also be otherwise unable to purchase a suitable property to meet their housing needs on the open market. If my Rt. Hon. Friend has evidence to which he would like to draw our attention, I would welcome him writing to me.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle illegal displays of unauthorised parking signs by parking management companies in North East Hampshire.
Answered by Luke Hall
Outdoor advertisements are controlled by local planning authorities under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. Local authorities have a wide range of enforcement powers to deal with advertisements if they are displayed unlawfully and it is for them to determine the most appropriate course of action to take when an advertisement is displayed in contravention of the regulations.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that private parking management companies comply with the relevant legislation on the display of parking fine notices.
Answered by Luke Hall
The private parking industry is currently self-regulating. However, the Government is committed to enacting the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 as soon as possible. It will lead to the creation of an independent code of practice for private parking companies, covering parking fine notices and related issues. On 3 November 2019 we announced we were contracting with the British Standards Institution (BSI) to develop the Code of Practice as British Standard, to ensure the new regulation will be robust and of the highest quality. We are also committed to carrying out a public consultation on the draft Code of Practice, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on supporting people who are ready to move on from their first property to move up the housing ladder.
Answered by Esther McVey
The Government is committed to making the housing market work for everyone, which means building the homes that people need in places that they want to live. This is why Government has set out reforms alongside £44 billion of financial support to increase housing supply and diversify the market. This includes, long term funding for infrastructure where people want to live and where there is the greatest housing need. Since 2010 over 1.5 million additional homes have been delivered in England and 2018-19 saw the highest level of net additions in the last thirty-one years. To help those looking to buy a home now, we are committed to making the buying and selling process quicker, cheaper and less stressful.