Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to provide financial support to help community groups (a) create new pocket parks and (b) refurbish existing parks.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government recognises the value of parks and green spaces in providing vibrant and inclusive locations for communities to socialise, volunteer, work, and exercise. We have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic how important access to parks and green spaces are to local communities. We recognise that green spaces foster health, well-being, integration, and social engagement. There are no immediate plans to continue the Pocket Parks Scheme. However, as we move beyond the threat of COVID-19, we will explore how we can best support all urban parks and green spaces, taking into account the Government’s environmental, social, and health priorities.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what requirements are in place to ensure that local people are fully consulted prior to previously developed land that is part of the green-belt is built on.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Applications for development on previously developed land in the Green Belt are subject to the statutory publicity requirements as outlined in article 15 of The Town and Country Planning (Development Procedure) (England) Order 2015. Local planning authorities must give notice by site display in at least one place on or near the land to which the application relates or by serving the notice on any adjoining owner or occupier. The Government is committed to protecting and enhancing the Green Belt in line with our manifesto. The National Planning Policy Framework outlines strong protections for Green Belt land, making it clear that most new building is inappropriate in Green Belt, and should be refused planning permission unless there are very special circumstances.
Where an application is a departure from the local plan they must also advertise in a local newspaper and publish information about the application on their website. A local planning authority may not determine an application until the period of public consultation, a minimum of 21 days, has been completed but they can extend this period of time if necessary. Local planning authorities also have discretion to undertake additional publicity on a case by case basis and may take into consideration the level of public interest in an application.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the date parameters for eligible planning permissions and the date of the extension.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Business and Planning Act 2020 introduced measures to extend unimplemented planning permissions and listed building consents in response to the unprecedented effects on the development sector last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have no plans to extend these measures.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 support constituents in applying for community funding via the schemes administered by his Department.
Answered by Luke Hall
At Budget, the UK Government launched three new investment programmes to support communities across the country.
The UK Community Renewal Fund aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches and will invest in skills, community and place, local business and supporting people into employment. Details on how to apply can be found in the prospectus published at Budget. In Great Britain, the lead authority of each of the 100 priority places will receive capacity funding to help them with the required bid coordination and appraisal for that place.
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK. The prospectus published at Budget provides guidance for local areas on how to submit bids for the first round of funding for projects starting in 2021-22. Capacity funding will also be allocated to the local authorities measured as highest need in England, and all local authorities in Scotland and Wales to build a new relationship with the UK Government. This will support the relevant local authorities to develop bids and ensure that investment is targeted where it is needed most.
The new £150 million Communities Ownership Fund will help ensure that communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can support and continue benefiting from the local facilities, community assets and amenities most important to them. The first bidding round for the Community Ownership Fund will open in June 2021. A full bidding prospectus will be published alongside this, which will be the key reference document for communities in developing and submitting bids
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to build more affordable homes and reduce social housing provider waiting lists.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and is investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, which will leverage up to £38 billion of private finance and provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow.
Approximately 50% of the homes delivered will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder. We will also deliver more than double the homes for social rent compared to the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered.
Furthermore, our £9 billion Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, running to 2023, will deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes.
Since 2010, we've delivered over 517,100 new affordable homes, including over 365,800 affordable homes for rent, of which 148,000 homes for social rent.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what financial support is available to (a) community support groups that meet in premises that form part of places of worship and (b) to support places of worship that have lost income due to having suspended rent payments for community groups that have continued to use their premises during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Government recognises the impact that the pandemic has had on a wide range of community and voluntary groups, including faith groups and places of worship.
Throughout the pandemic – even during the most severe periods of national restrictions – the Government has sought to ensure that key support groups, of up to 15 people, have been able to continue to meet in places of worship and other community venues, to provide mutual aid, therapy and other vital forms of support to those most in need.
As part of the response to the impact of COVID-19, the Government made available a package of support specifically for charities and businesses. Places of worship that are also registered charities have been able to apply to a number of these schemes on the basis of being impacted organisations themselves, to support their work delivering community services in response to the pandemic. This included the Government’s £750 million package of support specifically for charities, social enterprises and the voluntary sector. Many places of worship who employ people have also benefitted from the Government’s furlough scheme, which was recently extended to the end of September 2021 where needed.
The Government continues to engage regularly with a range of faith leaders and community groups – including through our Places of Worship Taskforce and regular roundtable meetings with major faith groups - to better understand how the Government can support them to respond to the pressures they face at this time.
I encourage places of worship and community groups to monitor the Government’s web pages that offer information on the schemes currently available, and new schemes when they are launched, such as: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on plans to relocate civil servants from his Department to Wolverhampton.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As we build back better, we are going to revitalise town and city centres and make them great places to live and work, driving investment and new jobs. Wolverhampton is a wonderful city with a proud history and bright future. MHCLG is committed to moving civil service roles out of London and more details of our plans will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the Independent Faith Engagement Review; and when his Department plans to publish the results of that review.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
In October 2019 the Government announced that Colin Bloom had been appointed as the Faith Engagement Adviser at the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government.
As Faith Engagement Adviser, Colin Bloom is leading a review into how the Government should best engage with faith groups in England.
In October 2020 Colin Bloom launched a Call for Evidence, posing a series of questions about the Government’s engagement with faith groups. The Call for Evidence closed on the 11 December and received over 20,000 responses, demonstrating the timely nature of this review.
The review is ongoing, and will be published in summer 2021.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 (a) support the recovery of the construction sector and (b) build new houses in the West Midlands.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The recovery of the construction sector following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a matter for BEIS. However, in respect of the housebuilding sector specifically, my department has:
In addition, the Housing Secretary, Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation and Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders have written to the housing industry to make clear that house building – and the supply chains that support it – should continue working securely.
The Government is committed to supporting the supply of new homes, delivering around 244,000 last year; the highest in over 30 years. We are bringing forward an ambitious near £20 billion investment, including our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme which could deliver up to 180,000 new homes for affordable homeownership and rent if economic conditions allow, and over £7 billion over the next four years through our National Home Building Fund, to unlock up to 860,000 homes through the provision of infrastructure and diversifying the market.
This Government is committed to building the homes we need and prioritising brownfield development, particularly for the regeneration of our towns and cities like those across the West Midlands.
In 2018, the Government granted the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) up to £100 million from the Land Fund, backing the Mayor’s commitment to deliver 215,000 homes across the region. The Land Fund supports WMCA to acquire and de-risk land around priority sites, delivering c.8k homes.
We have also awarded WMCA £108 million from the Brownfield Fund, empowering and supporting the Mayor to bring forward the redevelopment of brownfield sites across the region – including Longbridge in Birmingham.