Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government is taking steps to prevent the development of policies which result in restrictions on playground use similar to the case of Henley Homes in Lambeth.

The Government has been clear that unfair stigmatisation of social residents will not be tolerated, whether that be through restrictions on playground use or otherwise.

We are looking closely at how we encourage and support genuinely mixed homes and communities. I have asked officials to explore strengthening our existing planning guidance to emphasise the importance of integrated communities and help prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again.

MHCLG has been consulting widely on the question of stigma including through the Social Housing Green Paper. Many people living in England’s social homes told us they feel ignored and stigmatised and the Green Paper committed to tackling this. Our response to the Green Paper will be published in due course.