Contributions
2,441 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDBuilding the Homes we NeedThis Government have inherited an acute and entrenched housing crisis. The average new home is out of reach for the average worker, housing costs consume a third of private…12 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the problems we have in our planning system is that not enough people engage with applications or, in particular, with the local plan…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformIndeed, Mr Speaker, and I get a strong sense that an Adjournment debate application will be coming your way on several of those issues. Let me address a number of them. The hon.…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformOn many sites across the country there are genuine reasons, including those of viability, why sites are not built out. It is not as simple as saying that every consented site that…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI gently say to the right hon. Gentleman that, for a start, he has clearly not read the working paper. His question was a mess of contradictions. What we are clearly saying to…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformMy hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of local empowerment and of local communities shaping development in their areas—most importantly, as I have made clear in…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI am afraid to say that the hon. Lady’s understanding is not correct. I encourage her to read the working paper. It is a working paper, and we are seeking initial views on a…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformMy hon. Friend is absolutely right that there are good examples of training across the country. Hon. Members seemed to indicate earlier that they thought that mandatory training…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformWe have not outlined any proposals in the working paper that relate to call-ins or the takeover of local plans from the centre. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, though,…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI thank my hon. Friend for that question, and I absolutely agree with him. We have a local-plan-led planning system, in which fewer than a third of areas have an up-to-date local…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI thank my hon. Friend for that question. He is right about some of the bad decisions that were made in the past. I am a keen student of history and am well aware of some of them,…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI thank the hon. Gentleman for that set of questions, and I am glad that he personally welcomes housing. When it comes to his party, on this issue, as on so many others, the view…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformAs I said in response to a previous question, part of the objective of the proposals set out in the working paper is to test whether they will facilitate the speedy delivery of…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI thank my hon. Friend for that question. He has huge expertise in this area from his time as Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and he is…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI have to say, it is quite rich hearing the hon. Gentleman crow about planning permissions in the system. We are experiencing the lowest number of planning permissions and…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. We have to take steps to fix the ailing planning system that we have inherited. It is failing on a number of fronts, and trust…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformAs the House will be aware, in our first King’s Speech in July the Government announced their intention to introduce a planning and infrastructure Bill, designed to streamline the…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformThe hon. Gentleman gives the impression that I stood up today and said, “This is our solution to all the flaws of the planning system in England.” This is one small part of a much…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformThe evidence speaks for itself. Partly as a result of the change that the previous Government made to the national planning policy framework in December 2023, housing supply in…09 Dec 2024HANSARDPlanning Committees: ReformI encourage my hon. Friend to read the working paper. He is welcome to submit his views on the potential interaction of these proposals with master planning and planning…09 Dec 2024