Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

This latest site sets out how much each MP costs the taxpayer and how often MPs vote. They then calculate a “cost per vote” figure, by dividing the total costs per MP by the number of votes he or she has recorded. For those constituents interested, I am rated as 3rd cheapest at £633.07 per vote. The average cost is around twice that figure. The MP ranked 11th dearest or 639 in the cheapest rating weighs in at £6,223.29 per vote.

The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis): I would like to update hon. Members on the outcome of the Government’s consultation, launched by the Prime Minister in December, seeking views about our proposals for planning reform to support the development of 100,000 new high-quality, low-cost starter homes for young first time buyers.

We are determined to ensure young people are not denied what their parents took for granted— the opportunity to buy their own home, settle down and enjoy the security that home ownership brings. Nearly 192,000 households have now been helped by the Government to buy or reserve a home since 2010, through schemes like help to buy and the reinvigorated right to buy. But we know there are still far too many hard working young people from all walks of life struggling to gain a foot on the property ladder, so we want to go further and give them access to a new generation of high-quality, low-cost starter homes.

Our starter home consultation proposed the introduction of a new national exception site planning policy to enable starter homes to be built on under—used or unviable commercial or industrial sites not currently identified for housing, on both public and private land; for these starter homes to be only sold to young first time buyers at a minimum 20% discount below their open market value; that local planning authorities should not seek section 106 affordable housing and tariff-style contributions on starter homes; and they should be exempt from the community infrastructure levy to enable developers to help deliver the discounted sale price.

We received over 250 responses to the consultation. There was strong endorsement from prospective first time buyers for the starter homes policy. Many local authorities, developers and lenders also endorsed more support for first time buyers, and made helpful comments about how this new planning policy could be implemented. The Government have published their consultation response today, and I will place a copy in the Library of the House. It will also be available online at: www.gov.uk.

After careful consideration of these responses, the Government are today making the following change to national planning policy:

Local planning authorities should work in a positive and proactive way with landowners and developers to secure a supply of sites suitable for housing for first- time buyers. In particular, they should look for opportunities to create high quality, well designed starter homes through exception sites on commercial and industrial land that is either under used or unviable in its current or former use, and which has not currently been identified for housing.

Where applications for starter homes come forward on such exception sites, they should be approved unless the local planning authority can demonstrate that there are overriding conflicts with the national planning policy framework that cannot be mitigated.

Planning obligations should be attached to permissions for starter homes on starter homes exception sites, requiring that the homes are offered for sale at a minimum of 20% below open market price, to young first- time buyers who want to own and occupy a home. They should also prevent the re-sale and letting of the properties at open market value for a five year period.

In view of their contribution to meeting housing needs, starter homes exception sites should not be required to make section 106 affordable housing or tariff-style contributions.

Exception sites may include a small proportion of market homes, at the planning authority’s discretion, where this is essential to secure the required level of discount for the starter homes on the site.

Starter homes developments are expected to be well- designed and of a high quality, contributing to the creation of sustainable places where people want to live, work and put down roots to become part of the local community. A new design advisory panel set up by the Government, involving leading industry experts, is developing an initial set of exemplar designs for starter homes which we expect to publish shortly for wider comment. While recognising the need for local flexibility, we would expect these designs over time to become the default approach to design to be considered for starter homes developments.

This new national planning policy should be taken into account in plan-making and decision-taking, and should be read alongside other policies in the national planning policy framework.

We will shortly publish revised planning guidance to assist local planning authorities in implementing this policy change. This guidance will support implementation of the policy, including the definition of under-used or unviable land and young first time buyers.

We will also work with developers, lenders, and local authorities on the development of further supporting technical material.

In addition to this policy change, the Government will seek to amend the community infrastructure levy regulations in the next Parliament to exempt discounted starter home developments from the levy. We will also consider further how the development of more starter homes can be encouraged through further planning reforms, including the opportunity to use other forms of land.

This written ministerial statement sets out agreed coalition Government policy to deliver a national starter homes scheme and planning policy; it is separate from the announcement by the Prime Minister today setting out further Conservative policy intentions on starter homes for the next Parliament.

A number of people have written to me saying that as India has said it no longer wants overseas aid from us, and as it is now a substantial power with a growing economy, we should discontinue our aid programme. I have received the following letter from the Secretary of State confirming that action has been taken to end official aid programmes:

“As you will know, in November 2012, I announced that the UK would end its programme of financial grant aid to India by the end of 2015. Our new development partnership would instead be based on technical assistance programmes, focused on sharing skills and expertise; and investments in private sector projects focused on helping the poor.

I am writing to update you on progress as we enter the final year of this transition which is well underway. No new financial grant aid to Government budgets has been approved since 2012, and we have been responsibly winding down our existing financial grant aid programmes. All financial grant aid to Government will finish by the end of 2015. The UK can be rightly proud of what we have achieved in recent years – for example, by 2015 we will have reached 3.6 million pregnant women and children under five with nutrition programmes, given access to improved sanitation to almost 2 million people, provided access to finance to over 3 million poor women and provided clean energy to 600,000 people.

After 2015, our development partnership will focus exclusively on technical assistance and investing in private sector pro-poor projects which have the potential for both development and commercial returns. As I set out in 2012, this strategy is based on a rigorous analysis of the drivers of inclusive growth and economic development in India. All technical assistance will be transformational, based on the best of what the UK has to offer, and contribute to wider UK-India bilateral and prosperity priorities. Programmes will also make use of returnable capital to unlock and demonstrate the potential of private sector led growth.

This new partnership will draw on skills and experience across the Government and UK institutions, working with UK Trade and Investment, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Departments for Business Innovation & Skills, Education and Health.

India is an increasingly important partner for the UK and a central player on issues like climate, trade and global economic stability and security. The transition I announced in 2012 has set us well on the way to a modern development partnership for the 21st Century, moving us away from a donor-recipient relationship to a strategic partnership of equals based on policy cooperation, investment and trade.

JUSTINE GREENING”

I visited St Mary’s Mortimer at their request on Monday morning before going to Parliament for the votes on Criminal Justice and abortion. The School asked me to talk to the older children about Parliament and government, as they are studying rules and governments at the moment.

The children asked a wide range of questions about how political parties work, how many MPs there are, what is good and bad about being an MP, whether I had met the Prime Minister, what I could do to change things and why people become MPs.

I have been notified by Thames Valley Jobcentre that they are implementing the government policy of restricting benefits to EEA nationals, time limiting them. There will be assessments made as to whether an EEA migrant has a “Genuine prospect of work” to justify continued  residence and access to JSA. If they do not have such a prospect then they will lose entitlement.

Any claimant may argue they have some alternative right to reside, when the assessment is made.

The average cost of unleaded petrol on 18 February this year was 20.8 a litre less than a year earlier, a drop of 16.1% Diesel was down by 21.4p a litre, or 15.6%. (Petrol 108.8p, diesel 115.6p).

The government has made a modest contribution to cheaper petrol by stopping the rises in duty. The main reason for the lower prices is the big fall in the international oil price, as more oil and gas comes onstream in the USA including from shale deposits.

Some people will be pleased to know that 70% of the pump price of petrol is now government taxes of one kind or another, meaning the motorist is still making a large contribution to paying for our public services. Others will not be so happy about the continuing high level of tax, but pleased that more supply has brought a welcome reduction in the cost of living.

I have been sent some figures on the benefits from lower Stamp Duties from the Chancellor’s recent changes. Wokingham is one of the places which benefits strongly from these alterations, with 93% of all property transactions experiencing savings in costs. Stamp Duty Land Tax on the average home transaction in Wokingham falls from £8000 to £6100, a decline of £1900 or 24% of the tax payable.

I urged the Chancellor to make these changes, through speeches, articles and on my website. I always thought it wrong that Stamp Duty went up by forcing people to pay the higher rate on the whole cost when a home went just above one of the tax thresholds. This has now been changed. With MP Ann Main I held a backbench debate on this topic to demonstrate Parliamentary support for reform, which also helped make the case.

There is more to do to help more people buy their own home, but this cut in tax is a good start.

I visited the exhibition of posters in Parliament displayed by undergraduates from UK universities concerning their research.
Two undergraduates from Reading were present, showing outlines of their work.

Thomas Rawson showed details of his work on plant choice to achieve best results and Laura Armstrong talked about her studies of multilingualism.

It was good to see local work on display. I congratulated both on their achievement.

Last Friday I spoke to a seminar organised by Wokingham Borough, the Local Enterprise Partnership, Clifton Ingram and Lloyds Bank on small and medium sized enterprises. It was a well attended event.

I reminded them of the latest statement from the Governor of the Bank of England. This points to a year of low inflation, rising living standards and a decent rate of growth in the UK economy. This is a benign background for many businesses.

I commented on the range of schemes and options available for finance for small business to grow and invest. The government is proceeding with smart motorway capacity increases for the M3 and M4. The Borough Council is planning four new by pass/relief roads with new bridging over the railway line to ease traffic congestion. Crossrail, the Reading rail improvement and other major projects are improving rail services. I was asked what can help the Thames Valley remain a premier location for business? I replies a winning combination of talented people, good housing and an easier journey to work. Government and local government have a role in providing great education and better transport facilities.

The other presenters went into detail on what is on offer from the Local Enterprise Partnership, and explained how public sector money through the LEP, the education and training system and the Regional Growth fund can be useful. They explained the Berkshire Business Growth hub. We were reminded that London, the South east and east Anglia now represent 45% of the total UK economy, and are growing faster than the rest of the country. Any businesses in need of mentoring, support or financial assistance with growth should contact the LEP or the Borough officers for more guidance.

The LEP website is www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk

I attended the debate on local government finance for 2015-16 last Tuesday, and had a meeting with the Minister as well.

During the debate Labour announced that they would scrap the new homes bonus which has helped Wokingham recently, giving this money to larger urban authorities with higher levels of deprivation. Conservatives in the debate pointed out that we need the new homes money to help pay for the extra schools, roads and other facilities that new development requires. Ministers reaffirmed their wish to continue with extra money for authorities that are building new homes.

It is important that the local authority settlement recognises the financial needs of authorities like Wokingham and West Berkshire, where infrastructure did not keep up with housebuilding in the Labour years, and where we need to catch up with provision as well as catering for the new needs created by additional building.