Dominic Raab: I refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answers given to Questions UIN 143714 and UIN 143713 on 17 May 2018. The role and remit of Planning Inspectors is set out in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Planning Inspectors act on behalf of the Secretary of State to assess the soundness of a Local Plan in line with national planning policy, following a transparent and rigorous public...
Dominic Raab: The table below shows the number of decisions on called-in applications made by Ministers since 2010, together with the proportion of decisions which did not follow the Planning Inspector’s recommendation. Calendar Year Number of Cases decided Number of Cases not in line with Inspector's recommendation Percentage of decisions not in line with Inspector's recommendation 2010 19 6...
Dominic Raab: The Greater Manchester housing package supports the Government’s brownfield first policy as well as helping small and medium sized builders and tackling the large number of complex, small sites prevalent in the area. The housing package will deliver 227,200 homes by 2035 and provide Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) with the tools to unlock a sustainable pipeline of homes. The...
Dominic Raab: Planning Inspectors act on behalf of the Secretary of State to assess whether a Local Plan is suitably thought through, and whether it satisfies the statutory requirements, following a transparent and rigorous public examination process. The inspector is responsible for making recommendations to the local planning authority. The decision whether to adopt a Local Plan is made by the local...
Dominic Raab: Data on housing associations is collected by Homes England. The data requested is collected through the Single Data Return (SRD) and publically available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistical-data-r eturn-statistical-releases. Data has been collected from 2011/12 onwards. Figures relate to owned social rental stock only. Providers with fewer than 1,000 units do not provide...
Dominic Raab: The Affordable Homes Programme is only available to fund properties that will be available for affordable housing, either for rent or for sale. The Statistical Data Return for 2016-17 published by the Regulator of Social Housing shows that there were 52,379 non-social rented homes owned by private registered providers of social housing (many of which are housing associations). This category...
Dominic Raab: The Government has not assessed the potential merits of introducing rights to light for solar generation technology. The planning system can already take into account whether a proposed development would have an unreasonable impact on the light enjoyed by neighbouring properties, in terms of its impact on living conditions. The Government believes that sufficient protection is already...
Dominic Raab: All land-owning departments and arms-length bodies are required to take steps to regularly review their estates and delivery plans to identify land suitable for disposal, including for housing use, via the Public Land for Housing programme. Release of land contributes to the Government's target of building 300,000 homes annually by the mid 2020s. Not all central government land is suitable...
Dominic Raab: The Government is committed to learning from the terrible tragedy of Grenfell Tower so that nothing like this can ever happen again. As such, officials in my Department have considered fire safety and regulations in other countries as part of the wilder policy response and advice for the Hackitt Review, which forms part of the Government response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 26 April 2018 Building owners should do all they can to protect leaseholders from costs arising from fire safety works in buildings clad with potentially unsafe aluminium composite material cladding – either funding it themselves or looking at alternative routes such as insurance claims, warranties or legal action. This could include working with the...
Dominic Raab: The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that the Government attaches great importance to the protection of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). There are no new protections for AONBs in the revised NPPF as great weight should already be given to conserving their landscape and scenic beauty within the existing framework.
Dominic Raab: The Department has no current assessment on how level letter boxes effect postal workers. The statutory guidance which supports the Building Regulations references industry technical guidance which in turn refers to a British and European standard (BS EN 134724: 2013). This standard recommends a range for letter box apertures to be within a height range of 700 millimetres up to 1700...
Dominic Raab: The Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 supports the delivery of a wide range of affordable homes to rent or buy. Housing associations and local authorities can bid into the programme to provide homes for social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership, rent to buy, and specialist affordable homes for vulnerable, older people and people with disabilities. Providers will only qualify for funding...
Dominic Raab: This information is available in HM Land Registry's Price Paid Data: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/price-paid-data House of Commons Library analysis of the data is available here: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8 047/CBP08047---Tables-for-download.xlsx. See Table 6 for trends in the proportion of properties sold that were leasehold.
Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 14 May 2018 The Department will publish Land Use Change Statistics for 2016-17 on 31 May. To produce these statistics, the Department obtains data produced by the Ordnance Survey. Over the course of this year, the Ordnance Survey has been making technical improvements to the processes it uses to capture up-to-date and robust information on land use change...
Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 14 May 2018 Dame Judith Hackitt's review into Building Regulations and Fire Safety final report is expected to be published in late Spring 2018. The Government will respond to its findings in due course.
Dominic Raab: The Government has set out that the UK is seeking the broadest and deepest possible future agreement with the EU, and that as part of that the UK will need to make a strong commitment that its regulatory standards will remain as high as the EU’s. We are making real progress in our negotiations, including agreeing the terms of an implementation period that will give Governments, businesses...
Dominic Raab: In 2010 four civil servants worked on minerals planning policy as part of their official duties. There are now fewer staff working on minerals planning policy. A consultation on the draft revised National Planning Policy Framework includes consideration of Government’s future minerals policy. Future staffing levels will take account of the responses to the consultation.
Dominic Raab: Hyde Housing Association, like all housing associations, is an independent organisation. It is for its Board to make business decisions on how it meets its aims and objectives. Housing associations must ensure they comply with the law and, in relation to their social housing activities, any regulatory standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. Under the Value for Money standard they...
Dominic Raab: Housing Associations are independent organisations and it is for their Boards to make business decisions. However, they are not-for-profit organisations, and so we expect them to reinvest funds in their business. They are expected to comply with regulatory standards drawn up by the independent Regulator of Social Housing. This includes an expectation to maintain their properties by ensuring a...