Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of breaking up larger housing developers on the market for new homes.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Housing developers of all sizes, have an important part to play in creating the step change in housing delivery we need to deliver the homes this country needs, and we welcome the contribution.
We have been clear that we expect developers to deliver more homes, more quickly, and to a high standard. That is why we are taking action through our ambitious package of reforms to increase housing supply.
We are also taking measures to encourage different providers into a more diversified housing market to increase competition and innovation. Through our planning reforms and other measures, such as the £1 billion of short term loans provided through our Home Building Fund, we continue to back small and medium-sized builders. The Government announced an additional £1.5 billion for the fund at budget.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to make a decision on the compulsory purchase orders required for the delivery of the new housing and retail facilities planned for the Brent Cross and Cricklewood development.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
My Department is actively considering the report of the Inspector into the London Borough of Barnet Compulsory Purchase Order (No 1 & 2) 2015. Once the Secretary of State has received advice and made a decision on whether or not to confirm Compulsory Purchase Orders 1 & 2, a formal, reasoned decision letter will be issued.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether Grenfell Tower was equipped with a functioning wet or dry riser system.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I cannot comment on the specific systems used in Grenfell Tower, as this is a matter for the public inquiry and the on going police investigation.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 ensure that residential buildings of 10 storeys and higher are re-inspected to ensure that fire regulations are being complied with.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department wrote to local authority and housing association landlords on 18 June, setting out immediate actions that should be taken to identify residential tower blocks over 18 metres in height with aluminium type external cladding. The Department wrote again on 19 June to set out the process they should follow to submit samples of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding for testing.
On 30 June, we published a note at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-safety-checks-and-testing. This note confirms the advice in those letters to local authorities, with further specific information about the tests being carried out.
On 6 July we published details of further tests to be carried out as the next step in helping landlords to ensure the safety of their buildings. These large scale tests will help establish how different types of ACM panels in combination with different types of insulation behave in a fire. Further detail about the next testing stage can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expert-panel-recommends-further-tests-on-cladding-and-insulation.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 ensure that privately-owned tall buildings used for residential purposes are checked for fire safety.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
It is for private sector landlords, who are responsible for the safety of their buildings, to take action to assure tenants of the safety of the building. The testing process which is being undertaken for local authorities and housing associations is open to any other residential landlords free of charge. Local authorities will ensure that landlords are aware of this offer and the Government has also alerted owners, landlords and managers of private sector residential blocks in England through their representative bodies.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 effect of the use of permitted development rules in Chipping Barnet constituency.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission allowing certain development to take place without having to make a planning application. They support housing delivery, help householders improve their homes and facilitate infrastructure, including improvements to telecommunications. The Department publishes data for each local authority area on the number of applications and permissions.[1] No assessment has been made of the effect of the use of permitted development rights in Chipping Barnet.
[1] Table PDR 1: District planning authorities - applications for prior approvals for permitted developments, by local planning authority https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to assess the implications of the Grenfell Tower tragedy for limiting the use of permitted development rights to convert tall office buildings into residential accommodation.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
This is a matter for consideration as we take forward our work on fire safety.
The safety of tower block residents is paramount. The Government is asking all landlords of high rise buildings (including those in the private sector) to take action to check cladding and to act on interim safety advice. We have made our government funded testing process available to private residential building owners so that landlords can quickly check the safety of their cladding, take the necessary action and reassure their residents that they are safe in their homes.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on (a) local infrastructure and (b) human health of the conversion of offices into small flats from 16 square metres in size.
Answered by Lord Barwell
We expect all housing to be of good quality and to avoid a race to the bottom in size. Building regulations are there to ensure new homes are safe, secure and sustainable.
The White Paper 'Fixing our broken housing market' is clear that it is important that we deliver a range of housing types and tenures to meet a range of housing needs. As part of this the permitted development right for the change of use from office to residential is making a valuable contribution to the delivery of new homes, having delivered over 12,800 homes in the year to March 2016.