Select Committee on Communities and Local Government Committee First Report


3  The work of the Committee in 2005-06

14. Housing issues and the Department's role in tackling the problems arising from the increasing disparity between the number of households in the country and the number of homes available have dominated our agenda since the Committee was appointed. In October 2005 we announced a series of three consecutive major inquiries into aspects of housing policy. The first, upon which we reported in June 2006, considered affordable housing; the second, which is currently in progress, is looking specifically at the supply of rented housing. The third and final stage of this programme will be an inquiry, which is expected to take place once we have received the Government reply on rented housing, into shared ownership issues. Our aim in this ambitious undertaking is twofold: to scrutinise the Government's current policies and effectiveness in implementation and to influence subsequent policy development. By conducting a thorough analysis of the current position on housing we are establishing a firm foundation for both a critique of the Government's current policies and the effectiveness of their implementation and to influence housing policy.

15. Some of our other inquiries, examining other aspects of the Department's interests, have complemented our housing work: our Report on the Government's proposals for a planning-gain supplement included analysis of the impact of the proposals on the provision of affordable housing through developers' contributions. Housing, particularly houses of multiple occupation, has similarly featured, albeit to a lesser degree, in our current work on coastal towns.

16. Insofar as our objectives in this work are to effect policy change, the nature of much of that change is likely to be gradual and long-term. Nevertheless, we have been able to detect some early signs of impact. The Government endorsed many of the conclusions in our Report on Affordability and the Supply of Housing, some of which have subsequently been captured within Planning Policy Statement 3; and, while it rejected a number of our specific recommendations, we welcome the commitments it gave on issues such as the future development of household projections and increasing the stock of social housing. Our report was debated in the House in December 2006.

17. The various announcements made in relation to the planning-gain supplement proposals and the launch of further consultations in the Chancellor's 2006 Pre-Budget Report were in line with our recommendations on the topic, suggesting that our Report influenced the Government's thinking on aspects of implementation such as the rate of application to brownfield sites and the consideration of thresholds for small-scale non-residential developments.[6] This was confirmed by a broadly positive Government Response in December 2006.[7]

18. The Government's response to our Report on Re-Licensing was at first glance less satisfying: in the formal reply, the Government disputed many of our conclusions and the premise behind some of our recommendations. We found that "The Government failed in its duty to support implementation of its legislation by providing local authorities with the appropriate guidance in a timely fashion".[8] We recommended that guidance should be provided earlier with regard to future legislation such as the Gambling Act 2005: local authorities have responsibility for licensing premises under the new Act, and for issuing permits for gaming machines in venues such as pubs and clubs.

19. In September 2006 Rt hon Richard Caborn MP, the Minister for Sport, announced that, in view of concerns, the "appointed day" for receipt of new licence applications under the Gambling Act would be deferred by three months, from 31 January to 30 April 2007, and the date for existing operators to apply for continuation rights would be similarly deferred from 30 April to 31 July 2007. The final date for implementation of the Act would remain the same. While the Government did not accept the Committee's conclusion that its guidance was late in the case of the Licensing Act, the concession in the current case might be taken to imply that there is now greater recognition of the work local authorities have to carry out when implementing new legislation.

20. The tables in the annex provide a rounded picture of our activities since July 2005 and set out some of the ways in which we have pursued recommendations and followed up on other aspects of our work. The Appendix contains a memorandum from the Government, produced at our request, regarding its response to our recommendations and conclusions on re-licensing in particular.


6   Fifth Report from the Communities and Local Government Committee, Session 2005-05, Planning Gain Supplement, HC 1024. Back

7   Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Committee's Report on Planning Gain Supplement, Cm 7005, December 2006. Back

8   Second Report from the ODPM Committee, Session 2005-06, Re-Licensing, HC 606, para 39. Back


 
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