Tag: Housing and Communities

The press release issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 30 September 2024.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has kickstarted a new “partnership approach” to working with London Mayor Sadiq Khan to boost housebuilding in the capital.

A review of the London Plan for housing ordered by the last government has been withdrawn by the Deputy Prime Minister to kickstart a new “partnership approach” aimed at boosting housebuilding in the capital.

In March, the previous Secretary of State directed London Mayor Sadiq Khan to partially review parts of the London Plan – which sets out the strategy as to how the city will develop and grow.

The Deputy Prime Minister has now withdrawn that mandated review, but has also set out that action is needed to deliver the homes London needs.

In a letter to the Mayor, the Deputy Prime Minister said she recognises the issues London faces and will work with the mayor to ensure he takes all possible steps to boost housing delivery and deliver the homes London needs. Withdrawing the direction will allow the government and Greater London Authority to take “a new partnership approach” to tackle the housing crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

I know Mayor Sadiq Khan shares my commitment to tackle the housing crisis and boost economic growth to deliver real opportunities for Londoners.

Our new approach will take more fundamental action and focus on a partnership approach to build the housing that London needs and unlock the city’s economic potential.

Under proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, London needs to build around 80,000 new homes per year – a record and ambitious number for the city at over double the current average number of homes built a year in the capital.

The government and the Mayor are committed to working together to take all possible steps to deliver these homes, including through proposed changes to housing targets and other reforms to the planning system.

In addition to this, the New Homes Accelerator will see the Ministry of Housing work with Homes England to further speed up housing delivery, and money will also be available for London through the £150 million Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land Fund.

This is part of a wider push to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years by overhauling the planning system and restoring mandatory local housing targets across the country.

The press release issued by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 24 September 2024.

UK Armed Forces Veterans to be given better access to social housing.

All UK Armed Forces Veterans will be exempt from rules which require a connection to a local area before accessing social housing. This is in line with the manifesto commitment to strengthen support for our Armed Forces communities and to ensure veterans have access to the housing support they need.

Whilst not mandatory, the vast majority of councils (89%) have a local connection or residency test in place to determine who can qualify for social housing. These changes will mean that where such requirements are in place, veterans are not unfairly penalised.

Other groups who can have difficulty demonstrating a local connection – care leavers and domestic abuse victims – will also be exempt from the rule. This delivers on the commitment in the response to the consultation on social housing allocations, published earlier this month, to support the most vulnerable to access social housing.

The government is writing to councils to remind them they should prioritise veterans, care leavers and domestic abuse survivors for social housing. Regulations will be brought forward in due course, with Ministers hosting roundtables with the sector to explore the detail of these changes.

Already the government has given councils more flexibility to use their Right to Buy receipts to build and buy more social homes and allocated an additional £450 million for councils to secure homes for families at risk of homelessness.

Further plans will be set out at the next fiscal event to give councils and housing associations the rent stability they need to be able to borrow and invest in both new and existing homes.

The press release issued by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 September 2024.

The government will consult on a new Decent Homes Standard for the rented sectors.

• Government to consult on a new Decent Homes Standard for the rented sectors
• Awaab’s Law legislation for the social rented sector will be brought forward this autumn, and protections will be extended to private rented sector through Renters Rights Bill
• Introducing new access to information requirements for housing associations so tenants can access the information they need to hold their landlords to account

The government will consult on a new Decent Homes Standard for the rented sectors.

The consultation, which will launch as soon as possible, will look to ensure safe, secure housing is the standard people can expect in both social housing and private rented properties.

The government will also bring forward legislation for Awaab’s Law in the social rented sector this autumn, so hazards such as damp and mould must be investigated and remedied to set timescales. Implementing this legislation for social housing and extending protections to the private rented sector will support tenants to secure faster repairs, reducing health and safety risks.

Alongside this we will introduce new access to information requirements for housing associations, to enable tenants from the 2.5 million households managed by housing associations to hold their landlords to account and drive up the quality of the housing and services they provide.

We will also introduce a Competence and Conduct standard for the social rented sector that will ensure staff have the right skills, behaviours and experience to carry out the role they have in supporting often some of the most vulnerable in our society. The new standard, which will include qualification requirements for senior managers and executives, will help to raise standards across the sector, ensuring tenants receive a professional service and are treated with respect and dignity.

The government will bring forward further plans for high quality housebuilding through the revised National Planning Policy Framework this autumn, following the NPPF consultation which closes on 24 September.

The press release issued by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 September 2024.

The government is continuing to deliver devolution for all corners of the country, with a commitment to deliver full devolution across the North.

• Government will prioritise remaining Northern areas in the next wave of devolution deals
• Progression for deals covering Lancashire, Greater Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire and Devon and Torbay announced earlier this week will be prioritised
• Backing advanced manufacturing in the West Midlands and life sciences in West Yorkshire by releasing this year’s funding for the Mayors’ Investment Zones

The government is continuing to deliver devolution for all corners of the country, with a commitment to deliver full devolution across the North.

The next wave of devolution deals will work to ensure the remaining areas in the region not yet benefitting from greater devolved powers are supported to deliver agreements that work for their communities.

The commitment confirmed today follows the government’s announcement earlier this week that four devolution agreements will progress in Hull and East Yorkshire, Greater Lincolnshire, Lancashire, and Devon and Torbay.

The government will also release this year’s funding for two Investment Zones, delivering high quality jobs and attracting private sector investment, focusing on advanced manufacturing in the West Midlands and life sciences in West Yorkshire.

Investment Zones have been established in a number of Combined Authorities in England, combining tax incentives and flexible funding for research and development, skills, business support, local infrastructure and planning.

Further government action to deliver devolution includes:

• The English Devolution Bill announced in the King’s Speech;
• Establishing the Council of the Nations and Regions, with more details to be announced in due course;
• Asking existing mayors to develop Local Growth Plans for their areas to help drive regional growth. Greater Manchester, one of the places where devolution has existed for the longest and the powers are deepest, has been one of the UK’s fastest growing areas over the last 20 years, and is forecast to grow by more than the national average in coming years; and
• The devolution agreements announced this week means that over 60% of the country will be covered by a devolution deal.

The press release issued by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 September 2024.

As part of its brownfield first approach to development, the government has announced plans to support and expedite approval of urban sites, such as car parks.

• Call for evidence to look at how to accelerate building in urban areas.
• Part of the government’s brownfield first approach to deliver the homes in the areas people need.
• Sits alongside plans to deliver 1.5 million homes this Parliament.

As part of its brownfield first approach to development, the government has announced plans to support and expedite approval of urban sites, such as car parks.

As signalled in the National Planning Policy Framework consultation, the government is taking further steps toward the introduction of an effective ‘brownfield passport’ to ensure where proposals meet design and quality standards, the default answer is yes.

A call for evidence will be launched on options to further increase certainty in relation to brownfield development. These will include bold proposals that provide far greater clarity as to the principle, scale, and form of brownfield development with a view to lowering the risk, cost and uncertainty associated with securing planning permissions.

The options will then be discussed with key stakeholders, before specific proposals are consulted on, and any new policies implemented.

As part of its ambition to deliver 1.5 million homes this Parliament, the Government has already taken steps to deliver on its brownfield first approach through the NPPF consultation, setting out changes to clarify brownfield development is acceptable in principle. The consultation closes on 24 September.

The press release issued by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 21 September 2024.

Step forward in government’s drive to hand more power from Westminster to local people with skin in the game.

Four areas will receive more power from Westminster in the latest step in the government’s devolution revolution, which will deliver real change by boosting economic growth across the country.

The government has today (19) signed off on agreements for regional mayors in Greater Lincolnshire and in Hull & East Yorkshire, and to establish combined county authorities in both Devon & Torbay and Lancashire.

The agreements signed today will mean local leaders have the power to make decisions in areas such as transport, adult education, and housing, boosting economic growth and opportunity, which are at the heart of the government’s agenda.

Mayors will be elected in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire – the last part of Yorkshire to be covered by a devolution deal – in May 2025 and will have control over transport, housing, skills, and investment to shape the future of their area.

For Devon & Torbay and Lancashire, combined county authorities will be established in early 2025 handed the responsibility for adult education. Ministers are encouraging local leaders to deepen these devolution deals and take strides towards mayoral devolution as a gold standard.

Subject to parliamentary approval and local consent, the devolution agreements will mean local leaders can make decisions that benefit their communities and harness the unique opportunities of their areas.

Devolution is central to the government’s mission to economic growth, but only around half of the people in England currently benefit from these arrangements. The Deputy Prime Minister wants every area to have the opportunity to benefit from new powers.

At the heart of the government’s drive to shift powers away from Westminster is the flagship English Devolution Bill, which will be introduced to give new powers to mayors and combined authorities – and roll out Local Growth Plans designed to maximise opportunities for growth.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

“This is only the first step of our major ambition to drive forward our devolution revolution, and ensure we empower more communities and strengthen the existing powers of our brilliant mayors.”

The government is also minded to progress with the four non-mayoral ‘Level 2’ Single Local Authority devolution agreements with Cornwall Council, Buckinghamshire Council, Warwickshire County Council, and Surrey County Council, subject to further statutory tests being met. These agreements are an important step for places to see early benefits from devolution in the short-term. However, in making this downpayment in good faith, the government is encouraging these areas to continue working to explore the next steps towards deeper and wider devolution.

Today’s announcement comes after the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter inviting councils to share proposals for new devolution agreements over sensible geographies. The letter kickstarted the devolution revolution and the government expects more deals to be announced in the months to come.

The government strongly believes that the benefits of devolution are best achieved through the establishment of combined institutions with a directly elected leader. Mayors should have a unique role in an institution which allows them to focus fully on their devolved strategic responsibilities, working hand in glove with council leaders who will vitally also focus on the delivery of the essential services for which they are responsible. Conflating these two responsibilities into the same individual and institution, as is the case under the mayoral Single Local Authority model of devolution, would risk the optimal delivery of both and is not in line with the government’s approach to English devolution.

The government will therefore not proceed with the mayoral deals with Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council agreed with the previous government in December 2022 and instead intends to continue discussions over devolution in Norfolk & Suffolk.

The government will publish further detail on our approach to devolution in due course.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 17 September 2024.

The New Towns Taskforce held its first meeting and confirmed the final list of members as it pushed ahead to identify potential sites for new towns.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 11 September 2024.

Section 21 evictions banned to protect renters from key driver of homelessness and empower them to speak up against discriminatory treatment.

No fault evictions will be banned, and renters will receive greater protections and security from eviction thanks to historic legislation to level the playing field between tenants and landlords.

The Renters’ Rights Bill, introduced to Parliament today, will ban Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions for new and existing tenancies, extend Awaab’s Law into the private rented sector and end blanket bans for those on benefits or with children.

Banning Section 21 alone will reassure tenants they can challenge bad practice without the fear of retaliatory eviction, as landlords will need to provide a valid cause to end a tenancy early. Going further than ever before, the Bill will abolish Section 21 evictions for both new and existing tenancies at the same time, giving all private renters immediate security and assurance.

Last year alone, nearly 26,000 households faced homelessness as a result of a Section 21 eviction and had to go to their council for support. Greater security will give renters peace of mind, so they can build their lives in their communities.

Standards will also be driven up, as the Decent Homes Standard will be applied to the private rented sector for the first time. Currently 21% of privately rented homes are considered non-decent and more than 500,000 contain the most serious of hazards. Clear expectations will be set so tenants can expect safe, well-maintained, and secure living conditions.

Good landlords who provide these standards will benefit from clear regulation. This will eliminate unfair competition from those who, for far too long, have got away with renting out substandard properties to tenants.

Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner said:

Renters have been let down for too long and too many are stuck in disgraceful conditions, powerless to act because of the threat of a retaliatory eviction hanging over them.

Most landlords act in a responsible way but a small number of unscrupulous ones are tarnishing the reputation of the whole sector by making the most of the housing crisis and forcing tenants into bidding wars.

There can be no more dither and delay. We must overhaul renting and rebalance the relationship between tenant and landlord. This Bill will do just that and tenants can be reassured this Government will protect them.

Other measures introduced in the Bill include:

• Applying Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector. This will ensure that all renters in England are empowered to challenge dangerous conditions.
• Apply a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. Landlords who fail to address serious hazards can be fined up to £7,000 by local councils and may face prosecution for non-compliance.
• A ban on rental bidding wars, by cracking down on those who make the most of the housing crisis by forcing tenants to bid for their properties. Landlords and letting agents will be legally required to publish an asking rent for their property. They will also be banned from asking for, encouraging, or accepting any bids above this price.
• Ban on in-tenancy rent increases written in to contracts to prevent landlords implementing too high rents mid-tenancy, often to push out the current tenants. Under these reforms, landlords will only be allowed to raise the rent once a year, and to the market rate.
• Abolishing blanket bans on tenants with children or those in receipt of benefits to ensure fair access to housing for all.

A new Private Rented Sector Database will also be created to help landlords understand their obligations for compliance and provide tenants the information they need to make informed choices for new tenancies. It will also enable councils to focus enforcement where it is needed most.

Earlier this week, the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook met with landlord and tenant groups and committed to engaging with them as the Bill progresses, to ensure the sector is ready for the changes.

We will ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030, more detail will be set out in due course.

The Bill is a crucial step towards ending the housing crisis, along with a commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes over this parliament. Work is already underway to get Britain building, with the introduction of new mandatory housing targets and ‘golden rules’ which will ensure developments build more affordable homes.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 29 August 2024.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali have set out clear expectations to increase the pace of remediating unsafe buildings.

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Paul Dennett and Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe attended the meeting, along with key representatives from the London Fire Brigade, the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Local Government Association, the Building Safety Regulator, and other key partners.

The Deputy Prime Minister set out her priorities – speeding up the remediation of buildings, and ensuring that people are safe in buildings undergoing remediation. She also praised the bravery of firefighters who tackled the fire at Spectrum Building in Dagenham, which she visited yesterday, and the support offered to residents by Barking and Dagenham Council.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said:

Speeding up the remediation of buildings is absolutely critical.

Seven years on from Grenfell, action has been far too slow and the fire in Dagenham is a horrific reminder of the risk unsafe cladding still poses to far too many people.

This government will expect more from regulators and partners to make sure action is being taken now to make homes safe, speed up remediation and ensure that buildings in the process of being remediated are managed safely for residents.

Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali said:

I would like to thank the emergency services, council and wider community for all they have done following the fire in Dagenham.

It is absolutely essential that central and local government, regulators, and partners come together, as we have today, to drive fast and effective change to get buildings fixed, made safe and make sure residents are protected.

The press release issued the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 31 July 2024.

Reforms announced to clear the significant backlog in the auditing of local bodies’ accounts in England.

Significant measures to tackle a worsening backlog in local audit and restore transparency and accountability over how public money is spent across England have been announced.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Minister of State Jim McMahon announced measures to tackle the significant inherited backlog in the auditing of councils and other local bodies’ accounts. Minister McMahon emphasised the government’s determined to take the tough choices to begin rebuilding the foundations of local government.

It comes after only 1% of local bodies published audited accounts on time last year, with the backlog likely to increase to around 1,000 by the end of September. Without action, the backlog will continue to grow and continue to undermine local accountability and governance.

Secondary legislation will be laid when parliamentary time allows to set a statutory backstop of 13 December 2024 for the publication of audited accounts for all financial years up-to-and-including 2022/23. This will clear the backlog and enable a focus on recent accounts to provide the most up-to-date information.

Minister of State Jim McMahon said:

We know how important local services are to our communities and how vital it is councils, and other local bodies, have the financial transparency needed to continue to deliver them.

We inherited a broken local audit system. These proposals will tackle the immediate challenge of the backlog, but work is also underway to deliver our manifesto commitment to overhaul the system to ensure it is fit, legal and decent and works for everyone.

Due to the time constraints, not all audits will be completed in full by the December backstop. Where this is case, auditors will issue ‘disclaimed’ or ‘modified’ audit opinions. Auditors are likely to issue hundreds of ‘disclaimed’ audit opinions and disclaimed opinions will likely continue for some bodies for a number of years. Local bodies should not be unfairly judged based on disclaimed or modified opinions, caused by the breakdown in the system and the introduction of backstop dates that are largely beyond their control.

The proposals would also set backstops for the subsequent years up to 2028 to allow full assurance to be rebuilt over several audit cycles. The aspiration of the government and key local audit system partners is that the system recovers as early as possible within this period.

And while there will be modified and disclaimed opinions, auditors’ other statutory duties – including to report on Value for Money (VfM) arrangements, to make statutory recommendations and issue Public Interest Reports – remain a high priority.

There will be very limited and specific exemptions from the backstop dates and, where these apply, an explanation must be provided publicly, and audited accounts must still be published as soon as practicable.

If any bodies fail to comply with a backstop date they would be required to publish an explanation, send a copy to the Secretary of State, and publish audited accounts as soon as practicable. The government also intends to publish a list of bodies and auditors that do not meet the proposed backstop dates.

The measures will be supported by guidance to auditors issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and endorsed by the Financial Reporting Council.

Communication and engagement with stakeholders will take place in the coming months to make clear the necessity of the steps and emphasise the context for disclaimed opinions. Finally, at the point the C&AG requests, a new Code of Audit Practice will be laid in Parliament.

All key local audit organisations support these exceptional and bold measures, and understand that decisive action is needed to reset the system and repair the foundations of local government.

Local authorities and other local bodies, alongside their auditors, are our partners in this plan to restore a system of high-quality and timely financial reporting and audit. The government commends the commitment of local finance teams and auditors in their work to date.

The government intends to set out its longer-term plans to fix local audit this autumn.

Notes to editors:

The proposed backstop dates are:

• Financial years up-to-and-including 2022/23: 13 December 2024
• Financial year 2023/24: 28 February 2025
• Financial year 2024/25: 27 February 2026
• Financial year 2025/26: 31 January 2027
• Financial year 2026/27: 30 November 2027
• Financial year 2027/28: 30 November 2028