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23 Mar 2009 : Column 69W—continued
Mr. Iain Wright:
A national system for collecting information about surplus public sector land did not
exist in 1997. In 2004, the Government established the Register of Surplus Public Sector Land which now requires Government Departments to register land that is to be disposed of, for any future use including housing.
However, as part of the Surplus Public Sector Land programme, the Homes and Communities Agency (previously English Partnerships) has been working with Government Departments and other bodies to collect information about land they have sold that has subsequently been used for housing. The information available does not include schools but shows that the number of homes built since 1997 on the following bodies’ surplus land were as follows:
| Number | |
|
Government bodies (British Waterway, DEFRA, Homes and Communities Agency) |
These figures are likely to under-represent the number of homes built on land formerly owned by Government bodies. However, more detailed information cannot be provided without disproportionate cost.
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes were on the market in each of the last 20 quarters. [264988]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information on the number of affordable homes on the market is not collected centrally.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes were constructed in each of the last 20 quarters. [264989]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the number of additional affordable homes provided in England in each of the last five years. These figures are not available quarterly.
| Number of affordable homes provided | |
The affordable housing figures are from the Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS), and Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns and P2 house building returns submitted to CLG by local authorities and the National House-Building Council.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date the Design for Manufacture competition was (a) opened and (b) closed; and if she will make a statement. [265263]
Margaret Beckett: The Design for Manufacture Competition was announced by the then Deputy Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott), on 26 September 2004. The Prior Information Notice was issued on 15 February 2005, and the Contract Notice (which formally opened the competition process) was issued on 29 March 2005. This allowed consortiums to register their interest in participating and to request the necessary initial documents. The last of the 10 site contracts was awarded in July 2006, and that brought the competition stage of the programme to a close. A document called ‘Designed for Manufacture—lessons learnt’, which explained the competition process and the individual projects in detail, was published in June 2006.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1107-8W, on housing: low incomes, when she expects a decision to be made on Ministerial approval of funding for the Up2You/First Steps scheme; and if she will make a statement. [265571]
Margaret Beckett: The “Up2U/First Steps” scheme announced by the Mayor of London on 3 March was potentially novel and therefore my approval was required before funding from the Homes and Communities Agency could be committed. I immediately asked my officials to work with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to ensure that the scheme offered good value for money and that there were no practical or legal barriers to it proceeding.
This detailed work showed that there was scope to reduce the delivery risk and improve the value for money offered by the “Up2U/First Steps” scheme. I have now approved a revised deal between the HCA and London and Quadrant (L&Q). This deal will involve the properties that were to be covered by the “Up2U/First Steps” scheme being delivered through the Government’s existing intermediate market products (including Rent to HomeBuy, Intermediate Rent and New Build HomeBuy).
As a result of this deal, all of the properties that were to be covered by the “Up2U/First Steps” scheme will now be made available at completion as affordable housing and will not instead be sold outright. As such, the deal will not only unlock development by L&Q and support the construction industry—it will also offer a better deal for both first time buyers and taxpayers.
Housing: Prices
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the ratio of lower quintile house prices to lower quintile earnings was in each of the last 20 quarters. [264991]
Mr. Iain Wright: The ratio of lower quintile house prices to lower quintile earnings in England for the years 1997 to 2008 is presented in the following table:
| Lower quintile house prices to lower quintile earnings, England | |
| Source: Land Registry and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS). | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what forecast she has made of likely changes in the housing affordability ratio throughout 2009. [264993]
Mr. Iain Wright: Communities and Local Government does not make forecasts of the housing affordability ratio.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009, Official Report, columns 746-7W, on mortgages: Government assistance, how many of the cases identified meeting the eligibility criteria for the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme have received assistance. [265911]
Margaret Beckett: The Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme is expected to open in April with the first lenders. The scheme will help ensure hard working people who suffer a temporary loss of income can stay in their home. It enables households that experience a redundancy or significant loss of income to reduce their monthly payments to a more manageable level, by deferring a proportion of the interest payments on their mortgage for up to two years. Further detail, including the eligibility criteria is available at:
Multiple Occupation
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers local authorities have in relation to the development of houses in multiple occupation in areas identified as tourist destinations. [264107]
Mr. Iain Wright: There are no planning powers conferred on local authorities specifically in relation to the development of houses in multiple occupation in areas identified as tourist destinations. But local authorities may make use of their general planning powers in such areas.
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended) is intended to be a deregulatory mechanism which removes the need for planning permission between certain specified uses by grouping into classes land uses which have similar implications for local amenity. The Use Classes Order defines dwelling houses
under the C3 use class as houses used by a single person, any number of persons living together as a family, or by no more than six people living together as a single household.
HMOs do not fall within any of the specified use classes, and therefore are “sui generis” (in a class of its own) in terms of use. Planning permission is needed for a change of use to or from a sui generis use. Therefore, planning permission would be needed for a proposed change of use from a private dwelling to a HMO, or if such is deemed to have occurred.
The current definition of a dwelling house implies that up to six people living together as a single household should not, prima facie, be considered as a HMO. However local planning authorities may determine individual cases on the basis of “fact and degree” and may decide that a dwelling with fewer than six people living together other than as a single household constitutes a HMO.
In addition, local authorities have powers under the Housing Act 2004 to licence certain HMOs. These measures concern the condition and management of these properties and, again, are not specifically related to areas identified as tourist destinations.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons her Department has decided not to continue with National Indicator 12; and what plans she has to replace it with a comparable indicator. [262609]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
The Government remain committed to tackling the problems arising from rogue landlords providing private rented accommodation to illegal migrants. Having consulted the Local Government Association and the professional local government regulatory services body LACORS, we concluded that there are more effective alternative ways of promoting joint working between United Kingdom Border Agency officials and their local government counterparts across a broader spectrum of common interests than proceeding with the proposed National indicator 12. That includes the development of partnership working between local authorities and the new network of UK Border Agency local immigration teams, the majority of which will be in place by the end of next year. We will consider whether it would be appropriate to devise and consult on alternative indicators relating to immigration as part of the refresh of the National Indicator Set which is due to conclude in 2011.
Planning Obligations
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to phase out section 106 agreements following the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy. [265048]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Planning obligations (also known as section 106 agreements of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act) will remain available to local planning authorities after CIL regulations come into force. However, the Government are considering whether there is a case to restrict the scope of planning obligations in the future. Further details were set out in Chapter 5 of the
Government’s policy document, “The Community Infrastructure Levy” (August 2008) available on the Communities and Local Government website.
Planning Permission
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many pages of national planning guidance have been issued since 2005. [265046]
Mr. Iain Wright: Since 1 January 2005, we and our precursor Department (The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) have published approximately 3,254 pages of national planning guidance. This total includes Planning Policy Statements, Circulars and other guidance documents. Some of these are available only in electronic form, on the web. Documents published since 2005 but subsequently cancelled have been omitted. We announced in the Planning White Paper (2007) that we would significantly streamline the planning policy framework.
Planning: Horticulture
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her estimate is of the (a) number and (b) percentage of local planning officers which have (i) a horticulture-related qualification and (ii) received training in horticulture. [265900]
Mr. Iain Wright: This information is not held centrally.
Property Development
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average price per hectare of land for new build development was in each local authority area in each of the last five years. [265269]
Mr. Iain Wright: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, during the last five years the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has published twice yearly the VOA Property Market Report. The report gives opinions of value each year, as at 1 January and 1 July, for land for development for residential use. The reports for this period are available to view on the VOA website at:
The report gives values for 97 separate locations in England, plus 10 in Scotland and eight in Wales, where significant residential development is considered to be most likely to occur.
Property Transfer
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities have implemented large scale voluntary housing transfers in each year since 1997. [264997]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table lists the number of local authorities that have undertaken large scale voluntary transfer of housing stock in each financial year since 1997. The figure for 2008-09 is the number we expect to complete transfers.
| Number of local authorities | |
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