Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
8 contributions
New Homes Target
My Lords, 1.5 million is exactly what the country needs, but few outside government believe that this target is achievable. One in four of those homes would have to be built in London. London’s target for this year is 88,000 homes; by June, 4,000 had been completed. One reason that developers give f…
Just after the war, a large number of prefab houses were built, with great success, and they lasted very well. Is there any good reason why one could not put up a lot of prefabricated houses, which would go a long way towards this number the Government want?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
20 October 2025
10 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, for his amendment. I start by apologising to him for the meeting date, which I understand is 30 October. He will know from comments made earlier that I have had a great number of meetings before Report, so I can only assume that it was a misunderstandin…
My Lords, the amendments in my name seek to ensure that all regulations relating to the bill discount scheme set out in Clause 26 are subject to the affirmative parliamentary procedure.
The Government welcome the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and, through th…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
20 October 2025
9 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Well, well, my Lords, that was a wide-ranging debate for an opening debate on a purpose clause. Nevertheless, I thank those who contributed to the debate on the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. I thank her for her extensive engagement between Committee and Report.
This is …
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, for her Amendment 2. It would require the Secretary of State to assess the cumulative impact of nationally significant infrastructure projects—NSIPs—on both the environment and the communities in which such projects are being…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Statutory Instrument
20 October 2025
Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025
That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 10 July be approved. Relevant document: 33rd Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Considered in Grand Committee on 15 October.
Lords
Committee Stage
15 October 2025
5 contributions
Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these regulations were laid before the House on 10 July 2025. The Government are committed to the remediation of residential buildings with unsafe cladding in England. Our remediation acceleration plan sets out how we will remove barriers so that buildings are fixed faster. Crucially, this…
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her explanation of this substantial SI. Although the formula on page 15 may have deterred the casual reader, I found the Explanatory Memorandum at the end a helpful summary of what is proposed.
I welcome the measure as it is a key part of the package prop…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 October 2025
18 contributions
Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving Motion A I will, with the leave of the House, speak also to Motions E, F, G, G1 and L, which are grouped together.
It is a great pleasure to bring the Renters’ Rights Bill back to the House of Lords to consider the amendments and reasons from the other place. I start by thanking…
My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for her opening remarks. Your Lordships should please note my interest in the register that I work for and am a shareholder in a veterinary business that cares for many pets. I also have the privilege of being a dog owner for many years.
My updated amendment se…
+16 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 23, Schedule 1, Clauses 24 to 41, Schedule 2, Clauses 42 to 52, Schedule 3, Clauses 53 to 66, Schedule 4, Clauses 67 to 83, Schedule 5, Clauses 84 to 90, Schedule 6, Clauses 91 to 113, Title.
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
14 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, this group of amendments relates to the regulation-making powers governing the nature of the restoration levy. The powers provide the framework for how the levy will operate and how it will be used to unlock development and deliver nature restoration. Let me reassure the noble Lord, Lord F…
The noble Lord is correct, and there are provisions for that in the process.
Turning to Amendment 307, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, I note that he is a non-native species of Surrey; I hope he is not an invasive species of Surrey. His amendment would limit what administrative expenses c…
+12 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, this group includes government amendments to the overall improvement test that are part of our comprehensive package of amendments to ensure that everyone can have confidence that the nature restoration fund will deliver the improved outcomes for nature that are at the heart of this model …
As if by magic, I have the answer for who audits Natural England, so I can answer the noble Lord’s question. The accounts of Natural England are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. It is the National Audit Office, so I hope tha…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
25 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for his amendments on AI infrastructure and community energy projects. He is absolutely right to highlight the issue of the water and power required by data centres. Before I respond, I should say that we need to be very proud of our AI in this country. We have the t…
The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, makes an important point about reusing the energy created by data centres, which we are exploring. It is very important that the new towns task force has a chance to do its work. They will be subject to the planning process, just like all other applicants, when they put t…
+23 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 September 2025
7 contributions
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards: Cost Caps for Landlords
I thank the Minister for her response. Surely the guiding principle should be that tenants in the social rented sector should have the same level of investment in their properties as those in the private sector. I think that is an important principle. The Government are proposing to increase the cur…
My Lords, there is a significant number of homes that remain hard to decarbonise for which the interventions required to meet energy efficiency standards can be extremely costly. In the social housing sector, while the majority of housing associations are on track to meet EER C by 2030, for some the…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 September 2025
13 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 145, 173, 174, 175 and 176, tabled by my noble friend Lady Whitaker, who is a passionate advocate for the provision of Gypsy and Traveller sites. I was very happy to discuss this with her yesterday during the debate on Awaab’s law. We have had many meetings on th…
As ever in your Lordships’ Committee, it has been a very interesting and wide-ranging debate on this group of amendments. I thank noble Lords for tabling amendments on the important topics of the protection of rivers, wildlife and animal welfare.
I will pick up a couple of general points. The noble…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
10 September 2025
3 contributions
Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025
My Lords, before I begin on the instrument, I need to declare an interest for this piece of business. My daughter works for Settle housing association.
I pay tribute to the work of the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, on this issue. I know she cared about it as much as I do and worked very hard in the d…
My Lords, these are excellent regulations, sorely needed, and I commend our Government for bringing them forward. There is one problem that concerns me. They do not cover all social renters and, therefore, there is an element of discrimination. I should declare an interest as an officeholder in vari…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
12 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
All the amendments in this group tabled by noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, seek to amend permitted development rights. Changes to permitted development rights are brought forward through secondary legislation as amendments to the general permitted development order, g…
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for these amendments. By the way, I hope it is not the nephew of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, who is building the structure next door to the garden of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill. Amendment 135 seeks to restri…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
6 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I hope that noble Lords will forgive me if I just take a moment to thank my noble friend Lord Khan for all the work he did while he was a Minister in our department. I am afraid that I will not step on the toes of the great Lancashire-Yorkshire debate, but it was true to say that my noble …
I will take back the points that the noble Lord makes. The important thing not to lose in all this is that different solutions apply to different places. If I might give a brief example—this is about green space, not allotments—one development which I was responsible for literally backs on to the pa…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 September 2025
8 contributions
Grenfell Tower: Bureau Veritas
I thank my noble friend for that, but is she aware that Bureau Veritas staff were inside flat 16 with the London Fire Brigade, as a contractor, before 1 am on the night of the fire, and that Bureau Veritas’s contract to inspect the lifts was out of time during the fire? On the final point, is the Mi…
My Lords, further to the Question from the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, on cladding, data published by the noble Baroness’s department a few days ago showed that of the 5,214 high-rise blocks with unsafe cladding, eight years after Grenfell over 50% had not started remediation, meaning that thousands of…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 September 2025
9 contributions
Planning Delivery: Acceleration
My Lords, I thank the Minister very much for that Answer, and I am grateful for her comments on all those initiatives and also on AI. She will be aware that the previous Housing Secretary delivered only 186,000 net additional dwellings, which is the lowest for over a decade; worse still, permissions…
My Lords, the ONS reported that, of the 2.7 million homes that were given planning consent since 2015, only 1.7 million have actually been built, which means that 1.2 million are still on the books of the big housebuilders. This points to serious systemic issues, such as land banking, yet the curren…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
13 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, that was a very interesting, wide-ranging, detailed and thoughtful debate around many planning matters, including some of the amendments that had been tabled. I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part. As a planning geek myself, it is never a trouble to listen to these type…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that and for her long-standing lobbying on flooding issues. We have a group of amendments later today on flooding. I hope that I can pick up some of the questions she has raised under those amendments.
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, for his …
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
3 September 2025
6 contributions
Local Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these regulations were laid before the House on 16 June 2025.
Effective local audit is vital for local accountability and transparency. The Government are committed to reforming the local audit system, including by addressing long-standing concerns around proportionality and capacity. Sma…
My Lords, the local authority audit system was wrecked by the previous Government. Electoral Commission data shows that in the period leading to the 2010 general election big accounting firms handed millions of pounds in cash and non-cash donations to the Conservative Party and got their wish, which…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
3 September 2025
3 contributions
Buckinghamshire Council, Surrey County Council and Warwickshire County Council (Housing and Regeneration Functions) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these regulations were laid before the House on 9 June and provide for the implementation of the devolution deals confirmed on 6 March 2024 between the previous Government and the three councils concerned. This Government have shown their commitment to devolution, moving power from the cen…
My Lords, I refer to my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire. I support this statutory instrument, which confers housing and regeneration functions upon Buckinghamshire Council, Surrey County Council and Warwickshire County Council, to be exercised concurrently with Homes England. This i…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendments 89, 92, 94A and 94B relate to Clause 28 and the protection of agricultural land. I thank the noble Baronesses, Lady Hodgson and Lady Coffey, and the noble Lords, Lord Fuller and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, for tabling these amendments. Is that the right pronunciation of Drumlean? …
The noble Lord was referring specifically to climate impacts on food growing, which I felt was a bit ironic as we are trying to tackle the climate change that is bringing them about with exactly these measures to use clean energy.
The Government recognise the benefit of returning control over decis…
+2 more contributions in this session