Tag: Roberta Blackman-Woods

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the amount of undeveloped brownfield land which his Department considers suitable for development.

Brandon Lewis

The National Land Use Database provides data from local authorities on all previously developed land in England that may be available for development.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-land-use-database-of-previously-developed-land-nlud-pdl

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether it is his policy that his Department’s proposed Mayoral Development Orders will be subject to the same guidance under the National Planning Practice Guidance as Local Development Orders.

Brandon Lewis

Mayoral development orders will be a new power available to unlock development in London. We will work with the Mayor and London local authorities in developing any guidance in support of the legislation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to bring forward housing development on sites where construction has been delayed.

Brandon Lewis

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2014, Question UIN 207630.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation by local authorities of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.

Mr Rob Wilson

The Cabinet Office asked Lord Young of Graffham, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Enterprise, to conduct a review of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.

The report, published on 13 February, shows the Act is having a positive effect where it is taken up. It finds that a number of local authorities have taken a leading role in implementing social value and names Durham Council as an example.

The report makes a number of recommendations. The Government is considering these to ensure that the Act fulfils its full potential.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to bring forward housing development on brownfield land.

Brandon Lewis

We have introduced a package of measures designed to accelerate the development of brownfield land and deliver more homes. We expect local authorities to be proactive in bringing forward housing on brownfield land and to ensure they have local development orders in place, granting planning permission for new homes on over 90 per cent of brownfield land suitable for housing by 2020. This reflects the priority given to re-using brownfield in the National Planning Policy Framework. In particular:

• We have reformed the planning system to ensure that it supports the delivery of housing, including homes on brownfield land. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning should encourage the effective use of land by re-using brownfield sites, provided they are not of high environmental value and that local councils can set locally appropriate targets for using brownfield land.
• We have amended planning practice guidance to stress the importance of bringing brownfield land back into use
• Local authorities have been invited to bid for funding from a £4.4million incentive fund to support up to 100 local development orders.
• We are currently consulting on measures to underpin the Government’s programme.
• We are developing a support package, including local development order templates, to help authorities develop local development orders on smaller sites.
• Included powers in the Infrastructure Act which will enable the Mayor of London to produce Mayoral Development Orders that will remove planning obstacles to help deliver more housing in London.
• We are providing £400 million of recoverable investment funding to create Housing Zones to support development on brownfield land. 9 housing zones have already been announced in London.
• We have changed the Community Infrastructure Levy rules to provide an increased incentive for brownfield development, and extended exemptions for empty buildings being brought back into use.
• We have also introduced changes to national policy to lift Section 106 burdens on vacant buildings being returned to use or demolished for re-development and made it easier to convert empty buildings into homes.
• We have introduced a new national Starter Homes exception site planning policy to make it easier to secure planning permission for Starter Homes on underused or unviable commercial and industrial land which is not currently identified for housing – to be offered exclusively to young first time buyers at a 20% discount
• We have provided tax relief where brownfield land suffers from contamination
• We have provided access to funding for developers through initiatives such as the Local Infrastructure Fund, Get Britain Building investment fund and the Growing Places Fund
• We have secured the release of enough unused public sector land to build over 103,000 new homes and announced the establishment of a London Land Commission, based at the Greater London Authority, which will be tasked with identifying public sector brownfield land that is no longer needed in London.

We have also, as outlined in Question UIN 227326 of 17 March, implemented a package of proposals to get empty homes back into use.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which organisations and individuals responded to his Department’s recent consultation on the proposed zero carbon homes exemptions for small sites; and which such responses were (a) in favour of and (b) against the Government’s proposals to exempt sites of 10 homes or fewer from the allowable solutions.

Stephen Williams

The consultation on ‘Next steps to zero carbon homes – allowable solutions’ closed on 7 January 2015 and we are currently considering responses. We will be publishing a report on the summary of all responses received in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of sites where planning permission for housing development has been granted but where construction has been stalled for more than five years.

Brandon Lewis

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2014, to Question, UIN 207630.

We do not hold the requested figures on planning permission and the length of time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to local authorities of the proposed takeover of responsibility for LLC1 searches by the Land Registry.

Matthew Hancock

All costs of the conversion from the various databases held locally at the moment, whether they involve paper, microfiche or any other format to a digitised process, will be met by Land Registry.

Whilst costs to local authorities will be taken into account by Land Registry, they have yet to be broken down into greater detail at this stage, so as not to prejudice Land Registry’s commercial interests in respect of future procurement activity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of sites for which planning permission for housing development has been granted but where construction has been stalled for more than one year.

Brandon Lewis

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2014, to Question, UIN 207630.

We do not hold the requested figures on planning permission and the length of time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support he has given to commissioners in local government to attend the Commissioning Academy.

Kris Hopkins

The Government worked very closely with the Local Government Association to set up and develop the Commissioning Academy.

Since June 2012, 527 delegates have attended Commissioning Academy programmes. Of these 392 have attended the central Commissioning Academy programmes, including 206 (52%) from 53 local authorities.

A number of other programmes sit alongside the central programme under the Commissioning Academy umbrella. 78 have attended local programmes modelled on the central programme in Norfolk and Staffordshire, with participants drawn from local authorities and other public sector bodies in the local area. In addition, 8 councillors have attended a streamlined programme for local authority elected members.

Feedback from participants has been consistently positive. Independent research by the Local Government Information Unit on the impact of the Academy found that 71.9% of survey respondents felt their involvement in the programme was already having a tangible impact and they were confident it would lead to a positive outcome for citizens.

The Government continues to work with the sector to encourage even greater local authority take up of the programme.