Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to reclassify retail as legitimate employment land use as part of the Accelerated Planning Service Consultation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Our proposals for the Accelerated Planning Service do not include the reclassification of any land uses. The Accelerated Planning Service on which the Government is currently consulting is for planning applications for major commercial development which create 1,000 sqm or more of new or additional employment space as defined in planning legislation. This could include retail development. The consultation closes on 1 May 2024 and we will analyse responses and announce our decision in due course.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support leaseholders at The Mill in Ipswich with rectifying (a) cladding and (b) structural issues.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I want to see a good resolution for Leaseholders at the Mill. Our priority is finding a way to keep the residents safe in their homes and make sure unsafe cladding is remediated. The department are working at pace with the building’s Insolvency Practitioners, Ipswich Borough Council and Homes England to find solutions.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of local authorities sending homeless people to be accommodated in main towns of other local authorities.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Homelessness Code of Guidance is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing homeless households out of their borough. However, where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, we are aware that sometimes it is necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside of the local area.
Legislation stipulates that where temporary accommodation is provided, it must be suitable, taking account of the needs of the household. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to minimise disruption to schooling or employment.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to support residents who are evacuated from high-rise residential buildings as a result of flooding.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Flooding in buildings, unless part of a major, wide-area incident, is normally locally managed. In terms of supporting evacuated residents in such circumstances, normally a building owner or insurer will provide alternative accommodation.
Local authorities also have statutory duties to assist households that are homeless or threatened with homelessness (subject to households being eligible, including having recourse to public funds and being habitually resident).
Local authorities must take reasonable steps to prevent and/or relieve homelessness for eligible households. They must also provide temporary accommodation until long-term settled housing is secured for households that have priority need; this includes any household with a dependent child and households that are homeless as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that freeholders have a responsibility to provide housing (a) of an equal or higher standard and (b) in the same area for people served with a prohibition notice.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As I set out in my answer given to Question UIN 152313 on 6 March 2023, building owners are legally responsible for making sure their buildings are safe. Should the residents of an unsafe building need to be evacuated, the Government expects building owners to provide suitable alternative accommodation until residents can return home, at the building owner’s expense. It is the responsibility of building owners to avoid evacuation and decanting where it is possible to do so.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure residents evacuated from residential buildings deemed to be unsafe are given suitable temporary accommodation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners are legally responsible for making sure their buildings are safe. Should the residents of an unsafe building need to be evacuated, the Government expects building owners to provide suitable alternative accommodation until residents can return home, at the building owner's expense.
Building owners do not have unqualified rights to evacuate their buildings. If a building owner needs to evacuate residents from a building, they must comply with the terms of the lease. If the building owner does not have express rights under the lease to evacuate a building, they must seek consent from the residents for the evacuation and we expect building owners to agree the terms for evacuating with residents before they leave.
Should a building owner unlawfully evacuate a building, residents may be entitled to damages from the building owner. The building owner may also be committing a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. Local authorities also have a legal duty to step in as a last resort and provide alternative accommodation should residents be at risk of becoming homeless.
In terms of Cardinal Lofts, the Department is closely monitoring the situation, and I am being kept updated. Officials have held meetings with Railpen (the owner of Grey GR), Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service and Ipswich Borough Council.
Officials have stressed the importance of residents being provided with temporary accommodation that meets their needs and have made clear that the Government expects this accommodation to be provided, at Railpen's expense, until residents can return home safely.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2023 to Question 138005 on Buildings: Insulation, when he plans to introduce the Code of Practice for cladding remediation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We intend to co-develop a Code of Practice for publication by the Summer, working with residents, the housing and construction sectors, and oversight bodies. The Code will set out the impact of remediation works on residents and provide guidance and support for industry on how to take account of residents' needs. The Code of Practice will also make clear to residents what they can expect during the remediation process.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) Principle Estate Management, (b) Railpen and (c) Grey GR on taking steps to help ensure that residents evacuated from Cardinal Lofts in Ipswich on 20 February 2023 receive suitable temporary accommodation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Building owners are legally responsible for making sure their buildings are safe. Should the residents of an unsafe building need to be evacuated, the Government expects building owners to provide suitable alternative accommodation until residents can return home, at the building owner's expense.
Building owners do not have unqualified rights to evacuate their buildings. If a building owner needs to evacuate residents from a building, they must comply with the terms of the lease. If the building owner does not have express rights under the lease to evacuate a building, they must seek consent from the residents for the evacuation and we expect building owners to agree the terms for evacuating with residents before they leave.
Should a building owner unlawfully evacuate a building, residents may be entitled to damages from the building owner. The building owner may also be committing a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. Local authorities also have a legal duty to step in as a last resort and provide alternative accommodation should residents be at risk of becoming homeless.
In terms of Cardinal Lofts, the Department is closely monitoring the situation, and I am being kept updated. Officials have held meetings with Railpen (the owner of Grey GR), Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service and Ipswich Borough Council.
Officials have stressed the importance of residents being provided with temporary accommodation that meets their needs and have made clear that the Government expects this accommodation to be provided, at Railpen's expense, until residents can return home safely.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to regulate the kinds of materials that may be used to wrap residential buildings during cladding remediation works.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Remediation is vital to make buildings safe but we recognise that remediation projects can cause significant disruption to residents and negatively affect their welfare, in particular the wrapping of buildings whilst unsafe cladding is removed and replaced.
Fundamentally, building owners are responsible for making their buildings safe without delay, and decisions on the approach are down to them. As part of this they must ensure that works are taken forward efficiently in a way that minimises disruption to residents.
To that end, we are reviewing what expectations should be placed on those responsible for remediating unsafe buildings. We plan to work with the sector to develop a Code of Practice, taking account of residents' needs, with the intention of it being introduced later this year.
I am keen to continue to work with colleagues where there are concerns on this issue.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made estimate of the number of jobs that will be created for Ipswich residents by the Freeport East project.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details of the number of jobs that the Freeport East project is estimated to contribute to can be found here.