Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-12-04
Topic: Housing
Questions: Corby Nightlight is a fantastic charitable organisation that does brilliant work to help support homeless people in our community. What steps are the Department taking to support such organisations, which do important work in our communities?; The move to calculate business rates using CPI instead of RPI is reducing bills for many small businesses across the country, but 62 councils are yet to move to CPI despite the Government providing Budget funding. What are the Government doing to ensure that all councils use CPI to calculate their business rates?; Given that England’s private rented sector has doubled since 2002, what plans do Ministers have to emulate Scotland’s exemplary new policy under which such renters now have longer notice periods, indefinite security of tenure and a limit of one rent increase a year?; The positivity of small businesses in Bedworth last Saturday was tinged with frustration at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s decision to increase car parking charges, which has reduced footfall and seen fee income reduced by £200,000. Does the Minister agree that our councils should be far more focused on supporting our town centres, not on driving shoppers away?; The Surrey Vaults in Bristol has become the latest small music venue to close because of noise complaints. Can the Minister tell us how discussions are going with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about plans to introduce an agent of change principle into planning law so that small music venues are able to stand up to developers?; I am sure the Secretary of State will have seen today’s report from the British Chambers of Commerce, which concludes that, for our businesses to grow and compete, it is vital that local authorities provide an adequate supply of building land and consents for new commercial buildings. I know he is considering business rate retention, so will he ensure that proactive councils, such as Rugby Borough Council, continue to receive incentives to grow their local economies?; Bus users in the Potteries have been hit by a double whammy of fare increases and journey cuts. Although my constituents might appreciate the irony of two lots of bad bus news arriving at once, they certainly do not appreciate the inconvenience or the impact on their jobs. Many of those cuts could be avoided if Stoke-on-Trent City Council was prepared properly to subsidise public transport. What support is the Minister providing to make sure we have a bus system in the Potteries that is fit for purpose?; Councils in the north-east such as Gateshead Council and South Tyneside Council have seen their central Government grant cut by 50%, forcing them to axe 4,000 good jobs. The Government’s so-called jobs bonanza in the north through the northern powerhouse has created jobs, but two out of every three of those jobs are on temporary, insecure and zero-hours contracts. Is that how the northern powerhouse economy will work?
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister said earlier that there would be a review of the viability assessments under the national planning policy framework. Will he admit that there is a problem, which the Mayor of London and London councils see, and that these viability assessments are abused by developers to stop local authorities and others developing affordable homes?