Commons
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Point of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would like to correct an inadvertent error I made earlier today. During the Ninth Delegated Legislation Committee debate on the Greater Cambridge Development Corporation (Establishment) Order 2026, I inadvertently stated that a relevant powers and functio…
Commons
Debate
25 June 2026
8 contributions
Houses in Multiple Occupation
I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (Emma Lewell) on securing this important debate, and I thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) and the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) for their contributions.
I fully apprecia…
As I have said, I am more than happy to sit down with my hon. Friend and other hon. Members to hear their suggestions on where the regulations need to be strengthened. As a Department, our experience has been that, in some areas of the country, the powers are being properly enforced and the regulati…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
23 June 2026
3 contributions
Forest City: West Suffolk
Madam Deputy Speaker, please accept my sincere apologies for being slightly late to the Chamber.
Excellent. I am very glad to hear it. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
I congratulate the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) on securing this debate. I assure him that I have heard loud and clear his concerns about the high-level Forest City 1 proposals, and that I will reflect carefully o…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Statutory Instrument
22 June 2026
2 contributions
Draft Private Landlord Redress Schemes (Approval and Designation) Regulations 2026
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Private Landlord Redress Schemes (Approval and Designation) Regulations 2026.
It is an absolute pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker—it is my first time doing so, which makes it all the more special. In our manifesto, we pro…
I thank both the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, and the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington, for those questions. I will seek to answer them each in turn, beginning with giving the Committee a sense of when things will change fo…
Commons
Statutory Instrument
17 June 2026
6 contributions
Draft Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026.
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 27 April. The Government were clear in their…
I thank right hon. and hon. Members for their considered contributions and questions, which I will try to address in turn.
It is first worth making clear that the two minor and consequential amendments before us do not implement the new strategic plan-making system. We will bring forward a package …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
Local Plans
The plan-led approach is and must remain the cornerstone of our planning system, and we have been very clear that we expect all local planning authorities to make every possible effort to get up-to-date local plans in place as soon as possible. To support LPAs seeking to protect their communities fr…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
3 contributions
National Planning Policy Framework: Proposed Health Inequality Duty
As you are aware, Mr Speaker, the Government recently consulted on a new national planning policy framework. That consultation included proposals designed to promote healthy communities. We are currently analysing the extensive feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
I am in full agreement with my hon. Friend on the importance of local green spaces. Such spaces are vital community assets that provide significant benefits, not only for physical and mental health but to mitigate growing challenges, such as the urban heat island effect. Although I cannot speak for …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
8 contributions
Leasehold Reform
The Government continue to implement those leasehold reforms that are already in statute and to progress the wider set of reforms necessary to end the feudal leasehold system for good. In respect of the latter, the King’s Speech confirmed our intention to introduce the substantive commonhold and lea…
I thank my hon. Friend for her advocacy on this issue. Homeowners should not be subject to unfair management charges or poor standards of service at the hands of managing agents, and I commend her for bringing this case to the House’s attention. Our recent consultation on enhanced protections for ho…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
12 contributions
Topical Questions
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his constructive engagement on the new towns programme, and on Tempsford in particular. It helped to inform our approach, including to the decision that new town proposals will contribute to meeting the identified housing need of relevant authorities in all instan…
As the hon. Gentleman knows, we are in the process of establishing the greater Cambridge development corporation. We will set out further details, as we did just a few days ago, about its development management powers, its planning powers and the specific sites that it will look at.
+10 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
3 contributions
Tenant and Resident Management Organisations: Regulation
The Government remain committed to the principle of tenants and leaseholders taking over certain management functions from their landlords, and following a review of arrangements for the oversight of tenant management organisations, we intend to take steps to make it easier to do so. Statutory guida…
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this alarming case to my attention. We are clear that as we look to make it easier to establish TMOs—we want to do so; there are some very good ones out there—we must strengthen governance and accountability. I assure her that as part of that effort, the Secretary…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
2 contributions
New Social and Affordable Homes: Blaydon and Consett
Me again, Mr Speaker. We remain focused on implementing the five-step plan we published in July last year to deliver a decade of social and affordable housing renewal. We received incredibly ambitious bids for our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme and are in the process of assessing …
My hon. Friend is right. I would go further than she did: I think the previous Government deliberately set out to engineer the decline of social rented housing, not least through the reforms that they made to the right to buy, which we are reversing through the Social Housing Bill. As I made clear, …
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
4 contributions
Retirement Home Exit Fees
Event fees should be fair, transparent and communicated effectively. The Government continue to give careful consideration to the recommendations set out in the final report from the older people’s housing taskforce, including in respect of implementing the Law Commission’s 2017 recommendations to r…
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question—this is a really important issue. We consulted on a package of measures last year to strengthen leaseholder protections, including on the use of event fees, and will hopefully be responding to that consultation in the near future. More broadly, resale valu…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
3 contributions
Short-term Lets: Licensing
Ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engage regularly with ministerial colleagues across Government in relation to a range of housing policy matters. We continue to consider what additional powers we might give local authorities to enable them to respond to the pres…
To be clear, there is no credible solution to the housing crisis that does not involve significantly boosting housing supply, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right to argue that the distribution of homes in any given area has a significant bearing on housing availability and affordability. As she k…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
3 contributions
Road Adoption
My Department is working closely with the Department for Transport to consider reforms to adoption and highways frameworks. We also recently consulted on reducing the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, including proposals to increase the adoption of estate amenities such as roads …
Those cases sound particularly egregious, and I am sorry to hear about them. My hon. Friend is right to highlight the detrimental consequences of declining road adoption rates. The Department for Transport is reviewing barriers to adoption, with a view to identifying improvements and informing futur…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
15 June 2026
2 contributions
Acoustic Design Planning Requirements: Workplaces
National planning policy makes clear that planning decisions should minimise potential adverse impacts resulting from noise. Associated planning practice guidance sets out that good acoustic design needs to be considered early in the planning process.
Building regulations already require protection against sound or reverberation in houses, flats, buildings that have residential rooms and schools, but I am always open to considering how sound insulation standards might be improved in new builds. I would work on any further information my hon. Frie…
Commons
Debate
13 May 2026
3 contributions
New Developments: Unadopted Roads and Public Amenities
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) on securing this important debate. He is an incredibly hard-working and effective advocate for the interests of his constituency, and he has long championed action to address unadopted amenities on privately managed housing es…
I would refer the hon. Gentleman in the first instance to that CMA house building report, which says very clearly that a twin-track approach is needed. We need common adoptable standards. Only at the point that we have common standards can we force local authorities to adopt. I understand, as I know…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
28 April 2026
3 contributions
Houses in Multiple Occupation
I congratulate the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) on securing this important debate. I also thank those other hon. Members who have made contributions.
I appreciate fully the concerns that the hon. Member for Ashfield raises about houses in multiple occupation. HMOs can play an important r…
I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s point. I will come on to say how we are keeping regulation under review, but I note the point he makes.
Once an article 4 direction is in place, any change of use to either a large or small HMO requires an application for planning permission. All such applications a…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 April 2026
3 contributions
Park Home Owners
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Alec. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on securing this important debate. I thank all other hon. Members who have participated, and like many of them I welcome the strong cross-party nature and tone of the debate. I h…
I am sorry to hear that feedback. We will take into account any feedback that park home residents wish to submit—even in general terms and outside the strict questions they have responded to—when we are making policy decisions. I emphasise once again that I want the widest possible response from acr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
16 April 2026
7 contributions
Housing Needs: Young People
We have.
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I congratulate the hon. Members for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) and for Taunton and Wellington (Gideon Amos) on securing this important debate. I also thank all hon. Members who have participated for their thoughtful contributions.
I…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
6 contributions
Topical Questions
Our recent consultation on a revised national planning policy framework included proposals to strengthen support for rural exception sites, and to make it easier for authorities to require affordable housing on smaller sites in rural areas. My hon. Friend will also be aware that designated rural are…
The hon. Lady will appreciate that Ministers cannot comment on individual planning applications or local plans, but I am more than happy to meet her and discuss the general issues arising from the case she mentions.
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
2 contributions
Rent Control: Evidential Basis
The Government do not support the introduction of rent controls, which we believe could make life more difficult for renters. There is sufficient international evidence from countries such as Sweden and Germany, and from individual cities such as San Francisco, as well as the recent Scottish experie…
I can assure my hon. Friend that I have looked at a wealth of evidence, particularly international evidence, of what the impact of first and second-generation rent controls are, as well as more subtle forms of rent control, which can have differential impacts on different groups. Such controls typic…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
3 contributions
Leasehold Reform
The Government continue to steadily implement those reforms to the leasehold system that are already in statute and to progress the wider set of reforms necessary to end the leasehold system for good in this Parliament, not least through the provisions in our draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bi…
I am determined to switch on the improved leaseholder consumer rights provided for by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, including service charge standardisation and transparency measures, at the earliest possible opportunity so that people like Yvonne, and many hundreds of thousands more a…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
3 contributions
Social Homes: Furnished Tenancies
The Government recognise that a far smaller proportion of social rented homes are let as furnished or partly furnished, compared with the private rented sector. In our response to last year’s consultation on a new decent homes standard, we made clear that we are exploring what more can be done to su…
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and commend Karbon Homes for its commitment to furnished tenancies. While such tenancies are not mandatory, we know that many social landlords want to know more about the opportunities that furnished tenancy schemes can provide, as well as the funding and budg…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
4 contributions
Protecting the Green Belt
The Government are committed to preserving green belts, which have served England’s towns and cities well over many decades. We have not changed the five purposes of the green belt set out in paragraph 143 of the national planning policy framework. That framework still contains strong protections fo…
As the right hon. Lady well understands—we have had this exchange many times—it is for individual local planning authorities to determine whether green-belt land should be released and the exceptional circumstances test has been met. All the clever questions that she comes up with—I admire her ingen…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
5 contributions
Short-term Holiday Lets: Registration
Responsibility for developing a registration scheme for short-term lets in England lies with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which is building a simple and easy-to-use registration scheme for short-term lets, informed by ongoing stakeholder feedback and consultation. The scheme entered …
I understand the acute pressures that my hon. Friend faces in her constituency as a result of an excessive concentration of short-term lets. She and I met only recently to discuss that matter, but I will happily continue to engage on it with any hon. Member from across the House. As she knows, the G…
+3 more contributions in this session