02/11/2015

:00:00. > :00:00.not, that is what I have to say. That is what I have to say on the

:00:00. > :00:11.matter. The clerk will now proceed to read the orders of the day. I

:00:12. > :00:15.must inform the House I have selected the amendment in the name

:00:16. > :00:22.of the Leader of the Opposition to move the second reading, I call the

:00:23. > :00:29.Secretary of State for communities Doctor Greg Clark. Thank you very

:00:30. > :00:33.much Mr Speaker. Every parliament that is elected has a responsibility

:00:34. > :00:37.to the future. A responsibility to do all that we can to ensure that

:00:38. > :00:41.the lives of the next generation are better than those of past

:00:42. > :00:45.generations. Nowhere is this more important than in ensuring that the

:00:46. > :00:49.next generation had their homes that they need. Indeed it is not just the

:00:50. > :00:54.next generation, the impact of much public policy that we debate is on

:00:55. > :00:58.the here and now of the next few years had. But if you look back to

:00:59. > :01:02.the background, any city, town or village in Britain, it is obvious

:01:03. > :01:06.that housing in Tours for many decades and in some cases for

:01:07. > :01:09.hundreds of years. Everyone that is built is much more than a pile of

:01:10. > :01:14.bricks and mortar or concrete and glass. The homes that we build,

:01:15. > :01:20.shape the lives for better or for worse for Jenner generation of after

:01:21. > :01:23.generation for people who live in them. As Churchill said, we shape

:01:24. > :01:28.our buildings thereafter they shape us. Providing the homes that we need

:01:29. > :01:35.is there is possibility that unites us all in this house. For many years

:01:36. > :01:41.now, we have not built enough homes in this country. Is true of

:01:42. > :01:44.successive governments and it is true for many decades. New

:01:45. > :01:50.households have been forming in Britain at the rate of about 200,000

:01:51. > :01:56.a year. Yet the last year in which we built 200,000 homes was in 1988.

:01:57. > :02:05.I will give way to the honourable ladies. Is he aware that over 4800

:02:06. > :02:09.children in Anfield live in temporary accommodation and I fear

:02:10. > :02:15.that that 7% of children in Anfield and I fear his bill which damages

:02:16. > :02:21.the number of affordable homes available will make this problem

:02:22. > :02:24.immeasurably worse. I say to the honourable laid and she will see

:02:25. > :02:29.this during my remarks is that our buildings and intent in this bill is

:02:30. > :02:34.to increase the number of homes. That is our absolute objective so

:02:35. > :02:40.that those children have the prospect of a home over there had in

:02:41. > :02:44.the years to come. I was reflecting Mr Speaker on how it has been many

:02:45. > :02:51.years, more than a generation since this country built a number of homes

:02:52. > :02:56.in which we need. During the financial crash, house building in

:02:57. > :03:00.Britain suffered what might be called a cardiac arrest, because in

:03:01. > :03:04.the third quarter of 2008, we were less than 20,000 homes away from

:03:05. > :03:10.stop in building altogether. The lowest rates of peacetime

:03:11. > :03:15.house-building since the 1920s. It was not just that banks would not

:03:16. > :03:19.win, though they would not. It was a reckoning for a decade in which a

:03:20. > :03:23.top-down planning system which the right honourable gentleman opposite

:03:24. > :03:28.was magnanimous enough to concede had a few friends when he was the

:03:29. > :03:32.planning minister, one that was imposed and it built bureaucracy and

:03:33. > :03:36.presentment but not many homes. It followed a decade when the number of

:03:37. > :03:42.affordable homes fell by nearly half a million. It followed a decade in

:03:43. > :03:46.which less than 200,000 council houses a year were built in the

:03:47. > :03:52.whole of England. A lost decade in which the rising double of

:03:53. > :04:01.homeownership fell into reverse in 2003, for the first time since the

:04:02. > :04:05.1960s. The secretary explained how housing positions and properties,

:04:06. > :04:10.subsidizing that sale by selling housing properties, reducing local

:04:11. > :04:13.incomes to build properties by reducing rent and allowing

:04:14. > :04:17.developers to get away without building any social homes. How does

:04:18. > :04:22.that help the thousands of people in housing need in my constituency? I

:04:23. > :04:26.will adjust the point the honourable Jim to imagine what may but I will

:04:27. > :04:31.say that the reason a lot to like it else is get requiring a new home

:04:32. > :04:37.built for every home that is sold to their attorneys and that will

:04:38. > :04:43.improve the housing stock in London. We had, Mr Speaker, a decade when

:04:44. > :04:48.the housing markets almost ground to a complete halt. We had this fall in

:04:49. > :04:53.homeownership for the first time since the 1960s. It was a period in

:04:54. > :04:56.which the chairman of the select committee who I see in its place,

:04:57. > :05:01.again I think reflecting a shared view of this, that the government he

:05:02. > :05:07.supported for 13 years did not build enough homes. Other members of the

:05:08. > :05:10.front bench, the shadow home secretary concluded that labour did

:05:11. > :05:16.not do enough when we were in government as he said. We agree and

:05:17. > :05:18.it is obvious from what I said that governments of different parties did

:05:19. > :05:24.not do enough over the years as well. Airing the last Parliament,

:05:25. > :05:29.home-building revived and we got ready building again. We scrapped

:05:30. > :05:32.those regional spatial strategies, reformed planning policy, fiercely

:05:33. > :05:35.resisted at the time and some of us, the honourable Lady I think is

:05:36. > :05:41.winding up will member those debates that were very critical of the

:05:42. > :05:49.proposals that we made. But now, three years on, we now have nearly

:05:50. > :05:52.250,000 homes a year receiving planning commission up nearly 60%

:05:53. > :05:57.since 2010. I give way to my right all both rent and then the

:05:58. > :05:59.honourable gentleman. Will the Secretary of State sent a clear

:06:00. > :06:03.message to counsel today that there is a huge demand for affordable

:06:04. > :06:06.homes to purchase from people who do want to be homeowners and the

:06:07. > :06:11.councils can hit their affordable targets by bringing those forward

:06:12. > :06:17.was white it is absolutely right. I think if we reflect on years past,

:06:18. > :06:23.we know when 83% of people aspire to become homeowners, it is not just

:06:24. > :06:26.homes for rent, it is affordable homes for purchase as well and we

:06:27. > :06:31.are correcting what I think has been an anomaly historically. I give way

:06:32. > :06:38.to the chairwoman of the select committee. He quoted what I said in

:06:39. > :06:41.the last Parliament where I did except the government I supported

:06:42. > :06:44.for 30 years did not build enough homes, but if you look to remainder

:06:45. > :06:48.of the quotation is that the problem was not the Coalition but that's the

:06:49. > :06:51.problem was that the Coalition government built even fewer. The

:06:52. > :06:56.honourable gentleman knows very well that since the last government, the

:06:57. > :06:59.number of homes being built has increased very substantially, in

:07:00. > :07:06.fact it has increased by over 50% since the time that we inherited

:07:07. > :07:12.planning commission. As I mentioned, now running at almost 250,000 a

:07:13. > :07:18.year. For the first time in many years, getting at the level that we

:07:19. > :07:24.need to provide homes for the population as it is rising. I give

:07:25. > :07:28.way to the honourable laid. Very serious questions. Given that the

:07:29. > :07:32.bill fails to include any legal commitment to replace social homes

:07:33. > :07:36.that are sold under right to buy on a one-to-one basis, will he accept

:07:37. > :07:40.that setting off valuable counsel homes to find the extension of right

:07:41. > :07:43.to buy means we're losing to social homes to rent in the term of just

:07:44. > :07:49.one social homes to buy. That of an overall loss. You'll find that rate

:07:50. > :07:54.of additional stock that is being provided in most bonds to the

:07:55. > :08:01.reinvigorated counsel right to buy is running at over 141. The

:08:02. > :08:05.agreement that we have been able to reach with the housing associations

:08:06. > :08:08.and makes it very clear, and if the honourable Lady have not had a copy

:08:09. > :08:14.I will make sure she does, that these funds will be replaced or at

:08:15. > :08:17.least a 1 41 basis copy I should not be replaced because these homes

:08:18. > :08:22.continue to be occupied and trigger additional home that is being told.

:08:23. > :08:26.I'm going to make some progress and I will give way and a second. I'm

:08:27. > :08:33.going to talk about London and the honourable gentleman I think we'll

:08:34. > :08:35.have something to say then. We scrapped the regional spatial

:08:36. > :08:39.strategies and style planning commission increased as a result of

:08:40. > :08:42.those reforms. We have allowed local communities to have more of a say

:08:43. > :08:50.through now neighbourhood planning and now have over 1600 neighbourhood

:08:51. > :08:52.plans adopted or in production. We built 260,000 affordable homes

:08:53. > :08:58.nearly a third of them in London, and in the next five years we have

:08:59. > :09:05.built 275,000 more, the most for 20 years. We have helped hundreds of

:09:06. > :09:07.thousands of people achieve their dream of homeownership with

:09:08. > :09:11.government schemes like Help to Buy, doubling the number of first-time

:09:12. > :09:17.buyers in the last Parliament. I will give way. On the question of

:09:18. > :09:22.affordable homes, when the council insist on a certain percentage of

:09:23. > :09:26.any project having to be affordable, the consequence of this is that the

:09:27. > :09:30.developer has to pay for them in cross subsidy by building an extra

:09:31. > :09:34.number of larger homes. The effect then is to squeeze out the smaller

:09:35. > :09:42.two bedroom and the smaller three bedroom desk cutting away the middle

:09:43. > :09:46.of the housing lender. Can the right honourable member assured me that he

:09:47. > :09:51.has considered this consequence and has adjusted in this policy and in

:09:52. > :09:54.the bill? What I say to my right honourable friend is that when we

:09:55. > :09:59.wrote the national planning policy framework, one of the things

:10:00. > :10:02.reflected is that a local council or community should reflect the

:10:03. > :10:07.entirety of the planning needs in their area of all types of

:10:08. > :10:11.accommodation. That is reinforced in this bill. I will give way to the

:10:12. > :10:19.honourable gentleman and I will carry on. On the issue of affordable

:10:20. > :10:24.homes in London, does he accept his apartment's own figures that say

:10:25. > :10:30.over the last three years 9025 homes have been sold in London under right

:10:31. > :10:34.to buy and there have been 1310 starts on the placement. That is

:10:35. > :10:37.seven homes sold everyone home started. If that is their record why

:10:38. > :10:45.should we believe things will be different going forward was? I will

:10:46. > :10:49.go on to say that in London during the first year of the reinvigorated

:10:50. > :10:55.right to buy there were 632 homes sold and already a year before the

:10:56. > :10:59.deadline for councils, there have been 1115 starts made. In fact, the

:11:00. > :11:02.replacement of additional homes in London is running at a rate of

:11:03. > :11:07.nearly two for one and that is something I hope he will celebrate.

:11:08. > :11:13.When we reinvigorated the right to buy for counsel tenant, we ensured

:11:14. > :11:17.that for every homes sold to residents and allows another home to

:11:18. > :11:23.be built. It is as much a policy for expanding the housing stock as it is

:11:24. > :11:28.for extending homeownership desirable though that is.

:11:29. > :11:37.Nationally, of the 3000 and 54 additional sales made in the first

:11:38. > :11:41.year, 3337 new properties have been started within two years. Councils

:11:42. > :11:45.had three years to be able to build a more than one for one great. As

:11:46. > :11:50.they said to the honourable gentleman, in London and the

:11:51. > :11:53.additional housing rates of progression of additional housing is

:11:54. > :11:58.running at around two for one. It is worth saying, Mr Speaker, that under

:11:59. > :12:03.Labour during the time when so few counsel homes were sold, that the

:12:04. > :12:08.rates of new bills for every house sold under the right to buy was one

:12:09. > :12:14.in 170. Which is something I would have thought they might have more

:12:15. > :12:17.humility on. I will give way to the honourable gentleman. With my right

:12:18. > :12:20.on the front agree with me that the barriers are bound building new

:12:21. > :12:23.council houses as someone with some experiences in that are not around

:12:24. > :12:27.replacement for right to buy but actually in the planning process as

:12:28. > :12:32.dealt with during this bill? My friend is right and I stayed in our

:12:33. > :12:35.conversation with authorities across the country is one of the things

:12:36. > :12:40.they're looking to do in order to to able to what I think we want and all

:12:41. > :12:44.sides of the House is to provide more mums really next-generation and

:12:45. > :12:47.make sure the planning situation is speedier and more accommodating of

:12:48. > :12:53.the needs for more homes especially on Brownfield sites which this bill

:12:54. > :12:57.provides a major used for. Mr Speaker, if our task in the last

:12:58. > :13:01.Parliament was to rescue the housing market, now we must renew it.

:13:02. > :13:07.Welding even at the current rate is not enough. The lost years of

:13:08. > :13:11.housing deficit, building fewer homes than the rate at which new

:13:12. > :13:14.also performed has led to a chronic shortage of homes compared to what

:13:15. > :13:19.this country needs. That means getting back to building homes at

:13:20. > :13:26.the rate that we did last in the 1980s and before. It means getting

:13:27. > :13:29.help to the 86% of people in this country who want to become

:13:30. > :13:32.homeowners and it means taking steps to ensure that properties available

:13:33. > :13:39.for rent are propped early managed with no place for rope landlords. Is

:13:40. > :13:44.properly managed. Tuber by these homes requires working together.

:13:45. > :13:47.Parliament central government and local government, house builders and

:13:48. > :13:52.housing associations, to find the land and grant many commissioners,

:13:53. > :13:57.to finance development, build homes and to give people a chance to own

:13:58. > :14:03.or to read them. This bill helps us do that. I will give way. What he

:14:04. > :14:07.accept that the failure of the government to deal with the housing

:14:08. > :14:12.crisis has meant that private rents have reached an all-time high of

:14:13. > :14:17.?803 per month and more in London. And continue to rise, an increase of

:14:18. > :14:23.20% since 2010. Yet rages have failed to keep up with that increase

:14:24. > :14:27.-- wages. The honourable Lady makes my case for the. The consequence of

:14:28. > :14:32.a large period of feelings of items we need to flex itself in the price.

:14:33. > :14:37.This is why the purpose of the Government and this house is to

:14:38. > :14:41.build more homes so that we can make sure they are available in quantity

:14:42. > :14:47.to the next generation. I will give way. Will the honourable friend a

:14:48. > :14:52.group meet that surely is not the fact that with house prices going up

:14:53. > :14:57.3-4 fold in the time of the Labour government that is why young people

:14:58. > :15:00.find it so hard to own a house that has house prices have soared way

:15:01. > :15:07.beyond the price of salaries and at worst that was allegedly labour's

:15:08. > :15:12.economic miracle. I could not agree more with my old boyfriend. Is

:15:13. > :15:17.economics weight and simple. I do not know if it is the laws of

:15:18. > :15:20.economics that say if you do not bold enough homes of the meat prices

:15:21. > :15:27.will go up and get beyond the reach of ordinary people. And recognising

:15:28. > :15:30.aspirations of these bills for those who own their own homes, does he

:15:31. > :15:37.also recognised hopes of Londoners were homeless once a roof over their

:15:38. > :15:40.shoulders. Can you recognise a case made that some agree with the

:15:41. > :15:45.housing association agreement to write to buy but also recognise that

:15:46. > :15:51.those who remain in London's cross subsidize the vital work to help the

:15:52. > :15:54.vulnerable Londoners? I have said it is important we provide more homes

:15:55. > :15:59.across the country but particularly in London where we will know that

:16:00. > :16:06.the demand for homes from people of all types, families and single

:16:07. > :16:09.people is very acute and the purpose of this bill will allow us to

:16:10. > :16:18.provide more homes in London as I shall go on to say. I am most

:16:19. > :16:22.grateful to my right honourable friend for getting way. Can I just

:16:23. > :16:28.say I extend a warm welcome to this piece of legislation long overdue.

:16:29. > :16:34.Can I point out, in my local authority area telephone District

:16:35. > :16:37.Council we have some of the highest average property prices in the

:16:38. > :16:41.country and therefore even with the 20% discount applied to properties

:16:42. > :16:45.and barter homes it is difficult for our young people to afford those

:16:46. > :16:48.homes soppy in addition, I wonder if the Minister could tell us how my

:16:49. > :16:54.local council is going to be able to prioritise those homes were local

:16:55. > :16:57.people. What I would say to my right mobile friend is that we need

:16:58. > :17:03.provide homes of also works and it is important tuber continue to

:17:04. > :17:08.provide homes for rent and to provide homes for purchase. She will

:17:09. > :17:12.have constituents who have grown up in her constituency whose family

:17:13. > :17:16.connections have been there for many years, whose friends and relations

:17:17. > :17:20.are there. And who are having to leave her area, not because they

:17:21. > :17:25.want to but because they have too. It is important to provide more

:17:26. > :17:28.homes in areas such as hers as well as across the country. I will give

:17:29. > :17:35.way to the honourable gentleman before I go on. In areas like

:17:36. > :17:38.Brighton where land for development as extremely constrained, it is

:17:39. > :17:42.likely that money that is raised from the right to buy will be spent

:17:43. > :17:46.elsewhere outside of the city. Will you confirm now that money raised

:17:47. > :17:50.through right to buy will be spent in the city? That is not the

:17:51. > :17:57.experience across the country including in Brighton where the

:17:58. > :18:01.councils overwhelmingly are able to build extra properties coming from

:18:02. > :18:08.the sale of the homes that are there. I am not aware that Brighton

:18:09. > :18:10.proposed to return the money to the government which means that they

:18:11. > :18:17.have confidence that they're going to be able to provide those extra

:18:18. > :18:23.homes. What I was saying Mr Speaker before I took some interventions is

:18:24. > :18:27.that if we are to find the land and grant the planning commission to

:18:28. > :18:31.finance Dell to build and build homes, it is essential that the

:18:32. > :18:36.various layers in the housing market them together to do that. It cannot

:18:37. > :18:44.be done individually. This bill precisely helps that. Let me take

:18:45. > :18:48.the example of the right to buy. On homeownership, and aspiration that

:18:49. > :18:51.86% of people in this country have, this bill makes it possible for the

:18:52. > :18:55.agreement that the housing associations that Eric has made with

:18:56. > :19:02.the government to extend the right to buy two all 1.3 million tenants

:19:03. > :19:11.who currently do not have the right to become homeowners. Mr Speaker, it

:19:12. > :19:14.is an agreement that is good for residents, but for housing

:19:15. > :19:22.associations and good for the nation housing supply. Residents will get

:19:23. > :19:27.the opportunity to realise their dreams of homeownership and housing

:19:28. > :19:32.associations will be able to replace the homes sold, boosting the

:19:33. > :19:38.nation's housing supply. Mr Speaker, these were the words of the head of

:19:39. > :19:43.the housing association's collective body. The national housing

:19:44. > :19:49.Federation. It has been a dirty year -- just -- and justice that counsel

:19:50. > :19:53.Kenneth have the right to buy their homes but housing association

:19:54. > :19:56.tenants have not. I strongly believe that when they signed a tenancy

:19:57. > :20:02.agreement, housing association tenants did not find a way their

:20:03. > :20:05.aspirations to become homeowners. Housing association tenants share

:20:06. > :20:09.the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. They live on the same

:20:10. > :20:12.streets, shop at the same stores, their children go to the same

:20:13. > :20:17.schools. It is only right that they should have the same opportunity as

:20:18. > :20:22.our counsel Kenneth. I will give way to the honourable gentleman. But he

:20:23. > :20:27.confirmed that the national housing Federation does not support the sale

:20:28. > :20:30.of housing Council property to fund this policy and will he confirmed

:20:31. > :20:35.that the purchase of housing association properties will be also

:20:36. > :20:44.available to EU nationals just paying taxes for three years? The

:20:45. > :20:50.previous government actually reduced the residence qualification for

:20:51. > :20:53.overseas nationals and what we have done is to propose to extend that so

:20:54. > :21:00.the combination of the resident's requirement or social housing was

:21:01. > :21:03.the requirement to be a resident for three years before the right to buy

:21:04. > :21:08.comes in means there'll be seven years before there is any

:21:09. > :21:20.entitlement for an overseas national.

:21:21. > :21:30.When we announced in our manifesto the right to buy, I was pleased to

:21:31. > :21:35.hear that. Some communities in my constituency wanted to know whether

:21:36. > :21:39.the current exemptions around world exception sites will continue into

:21:40. > :21:43.the Right-to-Die. Can the Secretary of State reassure me and my

:21:44. > :21:49.constituents? What I would say to the House, this is a benefit of

:21:50. > :21:56.having a conversation and a dialogue with everyone did in this.

:21:57. > :22:01.Colleagues across the House want to be reassured that in those areas

:22:02. > :22:08.where it simply is not possible to provide a new home, that a solution

:22:09. > :22:15.can be found to allow the housing stock to be maintained their, while

:22:16. > :22:18.at the same time allowing those in rural communities have the same

:22:19. > :22:24.aspirations as others to own a home of their own. What we have agreed

:22:25. > :22:31.with housing associations sector to their proposal is that through those

:22:32. > :22:39.areas it will be possible for the Association, here's the really

:22:40. > :22:44.opportunity for our constituents across the country. He will be

:22:45. > :22:47.entitled to take their discount to a new home that the housing

:22:48. > :22:51.Association will build in the nearest area where it is possible to

:22:52. > :22:58.build. That is a real resort for every rural area and the country.

:22:59. > :23:05.That is the issue I wanted to raise. Will the Secretary of State confirm

:23:06. > :23:12.that where they do decide to sell off higher value property is not

:23:13. > :23:15.properties, and like for like has to happen in those communities or we

:23:16. > :23:19.will continue to see a demographic loss of young people in smaller

:23:20. > :23:27.communities. An advantage of reaching an agreement is who is

:23:28. > :23:30.locally based, they are positively enthusiastic as the head of the

:23:31. > :23:34.National Housing Federation made clear to the Select Committee the

:23:35. > :23:38.other day. That is the advantage of this agreement. I will give way to

:23:39. > :23:44.the former housing Minister. I commend him on securing a agreement.

:23:45. > :23:48.This is better than legislation. Can I say to him given that 90% of the

:23:49. > :23:52.housing stock in this sector has agreed to this, is in our deeply

:23:53. > :24:02.disappointing to watch the party opposite stuck in the past with? It

:24:03. > :24:05.is disappointing. The approach that the party opposite take, not just in

:24:06. > :24:10.this area, but if we look at our devolution proposal where I have

:24:11. > :24:15.found them might tell you -- and my colleagues have filed a background,

:24:16. > :24:20.it is entirely possible to talk income to a consensual agreement

:24:21. > :24:25.with people who have the same interest as we do. That is possible

:24:26. > :24:29.to do, the party opposite weather in devolution or in this matter, seem

:24:30. > :24:41.to set their face against that kind of dialogue. End of the kind of

:24:42. > :24:47.approach we take to establishing a consensus consents is. Does he not

:24:48. > :24:52.find a perverse and incredible that the opposition to extend the right

:24:53. > :24:56.to buy, to people on the link comes in this country should be managed

:24:57. > :25:05.not just by that party, but people who are overwhelmingly... By

:25:06. > :25:12.honourable friend makes an important point. If I can just illustrate, if

:25:13. > :25:16.anyone has any doubt about the personal impact of this policy, I

:25:17. > :25:20.will like to read from an e-mail that I received from a young mother

:25:21. > :25:22.on the day that our right to buy a agreement with the housing

:25:23. > :25:29.Association was announced last month. This woman says in her

:25:30. > :25:33.e-mail. In the middle of the economic crisis in 2009, I was made

:25:34. > :25:38.redundant from a job I had been in for 12 years of. I was left with a 6

:25:39. > :25:41.euros, a 3 -year-old in a newborn baby. Life was pretty much as grim

:25:42. > :25:48.as they could get. For the last five years I have lived in the housing

:25:49. > :25:52.Association... It was a lifeline, I am enormously grateful for the

:25:53. > :25:56.safety, security and peace of mind that it brought me. Up until April

:25:57. > :26:01.of this year, I simply accepted this was my life now and would always be.

:26:02. > :26:04.I would be forever more just about comfortable, just about paying the

:26:05. > :26:10.bills, just about paying for Christmas, just about living. In

:26:11. > :26:13.late April that completely changed. I heard somewhere that the

:26:14. > :26:17.Conservatives were going to allow housing association tenants the

:26:18. > :26:22.right to buy their home. I had completely written off ever being

:26:23. > :26:29.able to achieve that goal. I voted conservative in May because of that

:26:30. > :26:33.hope. I watched and read intently all about the conservatives crazy,

:26:34. > :26:37.ridiculous policy. I read all of the negative allow from housing

:26:38. > :26:41.association, Labour and literally everywhere. And of course all of

:26:42. > :26:46.these associations, politicians and the media have bigger voices and

:26:47. > :26:53.people like me. By September I had resigned myself to the fact that

:26:54. > :26:55.this looked like a lost cause. I am totally grateful to everyone in the

:26:56. > :27:00.conservative government who has helped to push this forward. I

:27:01. > :27:05.absolutely cannot wait until the point, hopefully in 2016I can be

:27:06. > :27:09.holding the keys to the House that I own, a house that will be my savings

:27:10. > :27:13.for the future and allow me to pass something on to my three girls.

:27:14. > :27:18.Please pass on my very heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved in

:27:19. > :27:25.shoring this is made a reality. For me it is life changing -- ensuring.

:27:26. > :27:28.These are the people up and down the country at this policy agreed with

:27:29. > :27:33.the housing association is giving new chances to. As this lady made

:27:34. > :27:38.clear, it is giving her the chance to fulfil a dream she thought was

:27:39. > :27:41.beyond her. It is disappointing to go back to my honourable friend

:27:42. > :27:45.said, that the opposition are turning their backs on the

:27:46. > :27:47.aspiration of people like that. Were from them the hope of homeownership

:27:48. > :27:57.to have nurtured under this bill. He will know that housing

:27:58. > :28:02.associations have a long history of independent bodies and that the main

:28:03. > :28:07.reason for many signing up for this voluntary deal was to avoid the

:28:08. > :28:13.reclassification of them as public bodies. It has done just that. When

:28:14. > :28:18.did the Secretary of State know that this reclassification was on the

:28:19. > :28:22.cards, before or after he may be agreement with those housing

:28:23. > :28:25.associations? Mr Speaker, I am astonished we have that intervention

:28:26. > :28:30.from the right honourable gentleman opposite. The Office of National

:28:31. > :28:34.Statistics, completely independent of the government, have made it

:28:35. > :28:39.clear that the reclassification that we intend to be temporary has

:28:40. > :28:46.nothing to do with any action of this government. The reason it has

:28:47. > :28:50.been reclassified was because of the clumsy provisions of a 2008 act of

:28:51. > :28:55.Parliament. Take into the House would be right honourable gentleman

:28:56. > :29:00.was in that department. He should be apologising for the predicament he

:29:01. > :29:06.has put housing of so stations into. One of the benefits of the agreement

:29:07. > :29:10.we have with the housing associations, reflected in this

:29:11. > :29:14.bill, is that honourable members across the House have noticed there

:29:15. > :29:18.is a Clause that allows us to deregulate the housing Association

:29:19. > :29:25.said there. To correct the damage that he did when he was a minister

:29:26. > :29:29.in the department. He gives the House partial information because

:29:30. > :29:31.people know that the Office of National Statistics has made this

:29:32. > :29:38.decision in light of government accounting changes brought in 2011.

:29:39. > :29:42.Not just the provisions of the 2008 at. I ask again, what he say to

:29:43. > :29:46.those housing associations that believed has acted in bad faith,

:29:47. > :29:54.knowing that this classification was on the cards, but still going to do

:29:55. > :30:00.that deal with them? It shows the benefits of a voluntary agreement.

:30:01. > :30:04.If we intend, as we do, to recognise the historic voluntary nature of

:30:05. > :30:07.housing associations, we're not going to use legislation to thrust

:30:08. > :30:11.them into the public sector. As he did when he was minister. We are

:30:12. > :30:17.going to use our legislation tour move those regulations that have put

:30:18. > :30:21.them temporarily into the public sector. Ever there was a vindication

:30:22. > :30:25.from the voluntary approach rather than the reaching for legislation

:30:26. > :30:31.that the party opposite favour, it is an this agreement. I have been

:30:32. > :30:37.speaking for over half an hour, I will make some progress I may give

:30:38. > :30:40.away a little later on. I would pay tribute to the housing Association

:30:41. > :30:47.to had the vision and force to extend home ownership in C it is

:30:48. > :30:50.completely consistent. And that the lazy assumption that is a

:30:51. > :30:54.contradiction between supporting the dreams of home buyers and ensuring

:30:55. > :30:59.new homes are built, that must and. I look forward to, indeed, an

:31:00. > :31:04.equally positive engagement with councils during the passage of this

:31:05. > :31:09.bill. Their objectives are the same as mine. To ensure that as they

:31:10. > :31:12.release the Apple II of the high-value properties they can

:31:13. > :31:17.ensure that more homes are built. -- equities. Adding to the housing

:31:18. > :31:19.supply as well as extending homeownership. At the request of

:31:20. > :31:25.councils we have included in the bill a lexical approach that does

:31:26. > :31:28.not require the immediate cell of properties. Gives us the chance, if

:31:29. > :31:34.they wish to take it, to an agreed approach that will meet our mutual

:31:35. > :31:39.objectives. Let me say word about London that has come out in

:31:40. > :31:42.debates. Building homes in the capital is a priority not only for

:31:43. > :31:48.my honourable friend over there, but for me to. Benjamin is really once

:31:49. > :31:55.described it as a roof for every birth. It has turned out to be a

:31:56. > :32:00.prophecy. 150 years later, the birds are still flocking. New housing

:32:01. > :32:07.stock in the capital were a quarter higher than when we came to power. A

:32:08. > :32:10.third of all affordable homes were in London and. After we reinvigorate

:32:11. > :32:16.at the right to buy for tenants and Monday and, nearly twice as many

:32:17. > :32:22.homes were built as were sold to the tenant, if I want to do more the

:32:23. > :32:26.mayor has set up the most ambitious plan for house building in the

:32:27. > :32:30.capital since the 1930s. I want to go further, so that a quarter of all

:32:31. > :32:34.homes to be built are built in London during the years ahead. A

:32:35. > :32:38.quarter of a million new homes over the next five years. I want the

:32:39. > :32:43.right to buy scheme to be a major part of that and I will talk to

:32:44. > :32:47.anyone in London local government to ensure that that happens. Just as it

:32:48. > :32:51.was possible to have a meeting of mind with the housing associations.

:32:52. > :33:00.There are other measures in this bill that will help. The Mayor has

:33:01. > :33:04.the power to establish development corporations, to speed-up the

:33:05. > :33:11.development of new housing across the city. Have absolutely determined

:33:12. > :33:13.to make sure that the Mayor has the ability to deliver the homes that

:33:14. > :33:20.London needs to maintain its position as London's from your world

:33:21. > :33:31.city. I will give way to the member,. I very much welcome the

:33:32. > :33:35.idea from the Minister that he recognises the exceptionalism of our

:33:36. > :33:41.capital city in this regard. This bill made important progress

:33:42. > :33:44.nationally, will he accept that this applies to London members on the

:33:45. > :33:53.side of the House and on the other side of the House, there is a

:33:54. > :33:57.recognition to tailor this bill for particular things in the city. Of

:33:58. > :34:02.October have made it clear that the approach we found easy to

:34:03. > :34:09.accommodate with the housing Association has absolutely been open

:34:10. > :34:14.to local representatives. We're having very productive conversation

:34:15. > :34:17.already. I want to turn to starter homes. During the 20 years the

:34:18. > :34:23.proportion of homeowners under the age of 40 has followed by a third. I

:34:24. > :34:27.will make some progress I know lots of members want to speak. What our

:34:28. > :34:32.generation has taken for granted has been slipping out of reach. They

:34:33. > :34:39.have long recognised the need for counsel to provide affordable

:34:40. > :34:44.housing. Paragraph 50 set out this requirement. Housing for affordable

:34:45. > :34:48.rent always be imported, until recently public policy has had too

:34:49. > :34:52.little to say to those who would like to own their own homes and

:34:53. > :34:56.struggle to do so. During the last three years be held to buy scheme

:34:57. > :35:00.has helped the hundred 20,000 people with a deposit to buy a home, 80% of

:35:01. > :35:09.whom our first home-buyers. We need to go further, the bill introduces a

:35:10. > :35:13.requirement for councils to their planning functions to provide

:35:14. > :35:16.starter homes available for first Time buyers. During the next five

:35:17. > :35:19.years we want to ensure that public policy recognises, as it always

:35:20. > :35:24.should have, that providing more affordable homes is an important

:35:25. > :35:28.objective. If we are not sure about the next generation from the

:35:29. > :35:33.opportunities that our generation has enjoyed. I give way to my

:35:34. > :35:38.honourable friend. I welcome any of the measures in this bill. Following

:35:39. > :35:41.on from his comments regarding the exceptionalism of London stop the

:35:42. > :35:46.Oxford has the most expensive housing compared to income in the

:35:47. > :35:54.country. Get the local area delivery zero affordable homes in 2013-14. It

:35:55. > :35:57.must be accepted there is significant local problems existing.

:35:58. > :36:01.I wise him to consider during progress of this bill how the

:36:02. > :36:07.problem in high-cost areas can be addressed by the bills progress? I

:36:08. > :36:12.have been clear in the constructive approach it that we intend to take.

:36:13. > :36:17.It has been exemplified with housing associations, it is incumbent on all

:36:18. > :36:22.accounts, including Labour councils to play their hearts. It is

:36:23. > :36:26.imperative for all of us in positions of political leadership to

:36:27. > :36:29.do what is needed to supply homes for the next-generation. I will give

:36:30. > :36:34.way to the honourable gentleman and I will give way in a few moments to

:36:35. > :36:40.colleagues on the other side. Talk about aspiration, does he recall as

:36:41. > :36:48.well be housing minister ran father said in 1945, at his Labour

:36:49. > :36:55.government will only go up by trying to build the Tories out of London

:36:56. > :37:02.that. Our approach is to make sure that our government is associated

:37:03. > :37:04.with the successes that every successful conservative government

:37:05. > :37:09.achieves which is to house the people of our country for

:37:10. > :37:16.generations to come. During the last Parliament, I will give way in a few

:37:17. > :37:21.minutes to other members, I have been generous in giving way to

:37:22. > :37:27.London members already in. Mr Speaker, during the last permit we

:37:28. > :37:33.were formed and streamlined the system. I hope it is a genuine point

:37:34. > :37:37.of order. I say much of that in expectation. The honourable

:37:38. > :37:40.gentleman speaks again and again about the importance of this in

:37:41. > :37:48.relation to London but will not take any interventions from London

:37:49. > :37:51.members on the side. BR Bull Hammer has advertised the claims of London

:37:52. > :37:56.members and I am sure there will be at the forefront of his mind. The

:37:57. > :38:00.record has shown I have been generous in giving way to London

:38:01. > :38:04.members. Including to the mayoral candidate of the party opposite.

:38:05. > :38:10.That is not illustrate a fairness of approach, I do not know what is. I

:38:11. > :38:19.will not, I have to make some progress. Mr Speaker, the honourable

:38:20. > :38:23.gentleman that Mac during the last Parliament we were formed and

:38:24. > :38:27.streamlined the planning system, we abolished over a thousand pages of

:38:28. > :38:29.central policy and revoked the regional spatial strategy. Local

:38:30. > :38:36.council have responded well as we knew they would to the devolution of

:38:37. > :38:42.power. 82% of counsel with published plans, compared to 32% in May 20

:38:43. > :38:47.ten, since we introduced the MP Pierre, the number of new homes

:38:48. > :38:50.planned for locally has increased by 23% copy 1600 neighbourhood plans

:38:51. > :38:54.are in production or have been adopted. It is right to continue in

:38:55. > :38:58.this direction of reform. That is why the bill takes step to simplify

:38:59. > :39:06.and speed up the process to adopt a neighbourhood plan. And to give it a

:39:07. > :39:12.legal forced early. Has assisted councils whether it is through

:39:13. > :39:16.establishing valve too operations. And returned it says to the 80% of

:39:17. > :39:23.councils have not yet reduced a local plan that five years after the

:39:24. > :39:27.MPP Apple was published, that is long enough for them to have done

:39:28. > :39:32.something. If plans are not being produced by them the government will

:39:33. > :39:35.have the power to intervene. -- MPPF. And help bring that to

:39:36. > :39:41.fruition. All members of the hospital to see it for right for

:39:42. > :39:46.development. The Morland brought back into use tomorrow countrysides

:39:47. > :39:50.can be safeguarded. That is why the bill establishes a new strategy

:39:51. > :39:53.register for Brent the lands of the councils can have an up-to-date and

:39:54. > :39:58.public accessible source of information from lands suitable for

:39:59. > :40:01.housing. I will give way, my honourable friend has been the

:40:02. > :40:11.patient. Then I will give way to the honourable Lady. I will like to take

:40:12. > :40:17.them back to starter homes. Was are a good idea, I am concerned that are

:40:18. > :40:19.proposed price cap of ?150,000 in London could be interpreted as a

:40:20. > :40:32.prize of God. -- for hundred What reassurance can you give me on

:40:33. > :40:38.that point? It is a cap and not a guided. Would want to seem homes of

:40:39. > :40:44.prices well below that. He is right to set that. I give way to the

:40:45. > :40:49.honourable Lady. Has the Secretary of State will like to listen to what

:40:50. > :40:53.e-mail I received from a single mother that is worried about the

:40:54. > :41:00.threshold. That means that families like her own lower incomes will be

:41:01. > :41:05.pushed to the high levels of poverty. I'm very happy to see the

:41:06. > :41:08.e-mail to which she refers that she would like to see me after the

:41:09. > :41:15.debate, of course I will take that up. It is only fair to expect that

:41:16. > :41:19.those who are fortunate enough to be earning a decent salary are not

:41:20. > :41:23.going to continue to have the subsidy that would otherwise be

:41:24. > :41:27.available to housing associations because of course, the revenues that

:41:28. > :41:37.are raised from that stay with housing associations so they can

:41:38. > :41:41.build more poverty. -- properties. Cannot applaud the advent of

:41:42. > :41:47.neighbourhood plans, that have been adopted with enthusiasm for many in

:41:48. > :41:53.my constituency. Katie Baird mine that one organisation that has the

:41:54. > :41:56.power to develop too destroy his policy, would he urged them were

:41:57. > :42:03.never the plan is in place to respect the wishes of the local

:42:04. > :42:05.community and stay well away? I will take my honourable friend's

:42:06. > :42:10.suggestion seriously. The part of the bill entrenches the rights of

:42:11. > :42:14.neighbourhood is to produce a neighbourhood plans. Against what is

:42:15. > :42:19.the case, and less than enthusiastic to strict. I hope we will see less

:42:20. > :42:27.of that, the measures in the bill will help. He may know that there

:42:28. > :42:33.are some concerns amongst general aviation users and indeed rural

:42:34. > :42:38.communities that they may lose small and medium-sized airfields if there

:42:39. > :42:50.would be redesignated as building sites. It was hoped that the opening

:42:51. > :42:56.around it would not constitute a site. I hope he can reassure me and

:42:57. > :43:04.those who share my interest in this that airfields will not be

:43:05. > :43:08.classified as Brandon filled sites. Particular concern about this and

:43:09. > :43:12.has been expressed well. There are reviews of the status of that. I

:43:13. > :43:17.rule reassure that his views are strongly communicated to my

:43:18. > :43:25.colleagues, who are overtaking our review. Mr Speaker, all members want

:43:26. > :43:31.to see brandfield prioritise for development. That is why it got mad

:43:32. > :43:35.so that councils can have an up-to-date and publicly acceptable

:43:36. > :43:40.source of information and land for housing. We want to see planning

:43:41. > :43:44.commission given for 90% of those sites by 2020 which would be of

:43:45. > :43:55.particular benefit, this is important. Krhin in particular,

:43:56. > :44:03.often cannot afford to enjoy the costa Lays and uncertainty of... Mr

:44:04. > :44:07.Speaker as we build, more homes and support home-buyers we want to

:44:08. > :44:11.ensure that existing housing is managed fairly. This bill will do

:44:12. > :44:15.something that many tenants and indeed landlords have been calling

:44:16. > :44:20.for for many years. To take action to crack down on the world landlords

:44:21. > :44:27.who can make tenet lives a misery and the reputation of the great who

:44:28. > :44:31.are responsible. We will establish a database of them and help councils

:44:32. > :44:39.tackle problems in their area to extend finds to series preachers of

:44:40. > :44:43.the law and offenders who put the lives of the tenants in danger. Mr

:44:44. > :44:47.Speaker, Pridgen has come a long way over the last five years, halfway

:44:48. > :44:51.through what the Prime Minister has called this turnaround decade. We

:44:52. > :44:55.have gone from having the biggest deficit to the prospect of a budget

:44:56. > :44:59.surplus. We have more people working than ever before in our history and

:45:00. > :45:05.we have put the housing market crash behind Haas and Britain is building

:45:06. > :45:08.again. We have further to go, providing homes for our country

:45:09. > :45:12.needs is a defining challenge for all of us in this house. The bill

:45:13. > :45:17.that we have before us today advances us towards that Bill. Is a

:45:18. > :45:22.plan for more homes and more homeowners. A plan that the country

:45:23. > :45:27.voted for six months ago and the general election. A plan that we are

:45:28. > :45:29.now putting into effect. A plan that offers the next generation what

:45:30. > :45:33.previous generations have been able to look forward to, a home of their

:45:34. > :45:38.own. I commend it to be house. Hear! Hear! The lesson is that the ill be

:45:39. > :45:48.read a second time. After five years of failure on the

:45:49. > :45:53.housing from the conservative ministers, we desperately needed a

:45:54. > :45:59.bill to get people hit by the cost of housing prices in this country

:46:00. > :46:04.some hope that things will change. This is not that Bill. There are

:46:05. > :46:11.some parts of the bill that we walk on, but I have to say they are few

:46:12. > :46:15.and far between. We do welcome steps to control the worst private

:46:16. > :46:20.landlords, steps to help young people that their foot in the

:46:21. > :46:24.housing market, steps to speed up the purchase of. We aim to make

:46:25. > :46:29.these much stronger as the bill goes through Parliament. If you are a

:46:30. > :46:33.young person or a family earning an ordinary income in trying to get on

:46:34. > :46:38.then this is a bad deal for you. If you want to buy your own home, the

:46:39. > :46:44.so-called starter homes are a nonstarter for you. Unaffordable to

:46:45. > :46:49.most people on average incomes. If you're a working family on modest

:46:50. > :46:54.wages in the Council or housing association, you face or read being

:46:55. > :47:00.hyped as a result of this bill. If you're worried about rising rents,

:47:01. > :47:05.insecurity in your private renting home, one of four England's families

:47:06. > :47:17.with kids bring these kids up in private renting accommodations, this

:47:18. > :47:25.bill does nothing for you. Average rents now consumes some 46% of

:47:26. > :47:30.average weekly income. This is unsustainable for families, we need

:47:31. > :47:33.an increase in the affordable homes, would he agree with me that this

:47:34. > :47:38.bill will lead to a decrease in affordable homes and do nothing to

:47:39. > :47:44.help these families unless it is significantly amended? My honourable

:47:45. > :47:48.friend is right. This is a bill that would only lead to a decrease in

:47:49. > :47:53.affordable renting and buying. This is a bill that will lead to a huge

:47:54. > :47:58.loss and those numbers, particularly in areas like hers. She is right to

:47:59. > :48:02.point to the problems that they faced with ever rising rents. Of

:48:03. > :48:06.course, and she looks at the conservative manifesto there is not

:48:07. > :48:10.a single word about the millions of people who now live in phase their

:48:11. > :48:15.whole lives in private renting accommodations. The this is why this

:48:16. > :48:22.bill does so little for them and if such a big missed opportunity. I was

:48:23. > :48:29.intrigued when I listen to the e-mail being read earlier. I heard a

:48:30. > :48:34.young woman who came to see me cool, doesn't she have the same

:48:35. > :48:38.aspirations. Why is it the case that we can only sell off counsel and

:48:39. > :48:46.private housing. Waisea private renting sector completely protected

:48:47. > :48:51.in this bill? Barilla problem into the row weakness in the private

:48:52. > :48:55.renting spectrum is that people who rent their homes from private

:48:56. > :49:00.landlords have so little protection, so little rates and so little basic

:49:01. > :49:08.blue dress on their landlord does not do what they should do as part

:49:09. > :49:11.of the obligation. I will give way. I wanted to respond to the point he

:49:12. > :49:16.made about affordability, the fundamental fact is that of rental

:49:17. > :49:20.prices and house prizes will be made more affordable by an increase in

:49:21. > :49:27.supply. That is the one thing that will decrease prices and that is up

:49:28. > :49:33.a heart of this bill. He is right, he should suggest his remarks with

:49:34. > :49:38.the Secretary of State there. In the last year the Tories build the last

:49:39. > :49:40.government built the fewest number of affordable homes in over two

:49:41. > :49:50.decades in this country. In case he wants to know the number, 10,920

:49:51. > :49:54.affordable homes to social rents. 10,000 compared to three times that

:49:55. > :49:57.number in the last year of the last Labour government which

:49:58. > :50:06.incidentally, when I was labourers housing minister. Surely he will

:50:07. > :50:09.concede that this time five years ago he was making the same arguments

:50:10. > :50:16.against the affordable homes regime, in fact that has given more

:50:17. > :50:21.financial autonomy and authority to register providers which has

:50:22. > :50:27.delivered 260,000 affordable homes. Quite the contrary, I was a strong

:50:28. > :50:31.supporter of that. In fact, I negotiated with the rest of the

:50:32. > :50:34.government and unprecedented switch, ?1.5 billion, so we could

:50:35. > :50:41.build more affordable, genuinely affordable renting homes to build

:50:42. > :50:44.the country and get it through the recession. At the honourable

:50:45. > :50:48.gentleman wants to know and look at his own governments record, it is

:50:49. > :50:51.true that almost eight out of ten of the affordable rented homes for

:50:52. > :50:58.social rent that they claim are the... Were actually started and

:50:59. > :51:05.funded under the decisions I made as the last housing minister. Given his

:51:06. > :51:08.ownership he claims on this issue, if you regret the loss of form

:51:09. > :51:20.hundred 40,000 affordable homes under the last Labour government?

:51:21. > :51:28.Iver Gratz that -- I will grant that we did not do enough just like the

:51:29. > :51:33.last five years of this government to make sure that were homes were

:51:34. > :51:39.sold, there was a enough funding to make sure they could be fully

:51:40. > :51:43.replaced, one for one. Like for like in the area they were lost. That is

:51:44. > :51:48.a big flaw in the bill before us this afternoon. That is a big flaw

:51:49. > :51:51.that will become more and more exposed in every one of our areas

:51:52. > :51:54.and every one of the areas of the constituencies of members opposite

:51:55. > :52:07.in each of the Will you be subject of regret, and

:52:08. > :52:15.constituency between 1997 and 2007, house prices increased by 200%. On

:52:16. > :52:18.eight fee of badly regulated mortgages which led to an inevitable

:52:19. > :52:27.crash and a very deeper session. Does he regret the credit crunch and

:52:28. > :52:30.the excess lending... That caused the affordability crisis that we

:52:31. > :52:36.have today? There were failings in the ways that tanks and the

:52:37. > :52:40.financial services were regulated in this country and every other

:52:41. > :52:43.developed country. What I do regret is that our ministers with and too

:52:44. > :52:48.hard to the party opposite that were urging us to cut the regulation of

:52:49. > :52:54.the banking sector. What I am proud of is that when that deep economic

:52:55. > :53:00.recession hit, driven by the global ranking crisis, that ours was a

:53:01. > :53:05.government prepared to step in to try and help the country through

:53:06. > :53:10.that deeper session. To help people stay in jobs, to help businesses

:53:11. > :53:15.keep going and to help people stay in their own homes. I was proud to

:53:16. > :53:19.play a part in not with a ?4 billion affordable housing programme,

:53:20. > :53:26.building the affordable homes to rent and buy that people needed

:53:27. > :53:32.across the country. ?4 billion, Madam Deputy begin in 2009-10. Cut

:53:33. > :53:36.under this government to less than two thirds of the billion pound. I

:53:37. > :53:38.give way to my honourable friend. I'm grateful to my honourable friend

:53:39. > :53:44.because one of the first acts of this conservative liberal volition

:53:45. > :53:48.when it came into power but to scrap the home starts key which was aimed

:53:49. > :53:53.at keeping homes being built and rather than stalled because of lack

:53:54. > :53:59.of backing from the banks. Fewer homes were repossessed during the

:54:00. > :54:03.deepest recession we have had in nearly a century than under any

:54:04. > :54:06.recession we saw under the Tories. My honourable friend and I were very

:54:07. > :54:11.close on this and he is right. Betwixt our programme of putting

:54:12. > :54:15.public money into starting building on sites that were stalled because

:54:16. > :54:20.of the deep global banking crisis and recession was part of building

:54:21. > :54:23.the homes we needed, creating the jobs we needed and because we

:54:24. > :54:28.insisted on apprenticeships in return for that support we got more

:54:29. > :54:34.partnerships across the country and in terms of the mortgage rescue

:54:35. > :54:38.scheme he will remember back in 1991 under the last for a recession, they

:54:39. > :54:42.put nothing in place, they were not concerned about homeowners who are

:54:43. > :54:47.faced with repossession of their own homes soppy despite a much deeper

:54:48. > :54:50.recession, much more serious economic programmes, our mortgage

:54:51. > :54:55.rescue scheme meant that war than a third fewer people than in the 1991

:54:56. > :55:03.ever had to move out of their homes and at this the basis on which they

:55:04. > :55:13.were building their wives. -- lives. The so-called starter homes

:55:14. > :55:19.programme means in the words of shelter that it will help only those

:55:20. > :55:26.who can afford homes in the open market. 450,000 pounds is not an

:55:27. > :55:30.affordable home. My honourable friend anticipates one of my main

:55:31. > :55:33.concerns and consider citizens about the provisions of this. He

:55:34. > :55:39.anticipates one of the major criticisms I think many people take

:55:40. > :55:41.at face value at first what conservative ministers say because

:55:42. > :55:46.the more they look the less they will like it. The more they look at

:55:47. > :55:51.the less they will see is support for them and their aspirations and

:55:52. > :55:54.future. I think my honourable friend for giving way. According to the

:55:55. > :56:01.government's on figures with 200 right to buy being sold and replaced

:56:02. > :56:07.it starts at zero, we are already in a deficit of 200 homes with ?450,000

:56:08. > :56:11.being 20 times the average salary in print, does my honourable friend not

:56:12. > :56:18.agree with me that we need to start building genuine affordable homes in

:56:19. > :56:20.less than 450,000 as soon as possible. Batting deputies become my

:56:21. > :56:26.honourable friend is right. Interest, the scale of the cost of

:56:27. > :56:29.housing crisis that we face in this country requires every part of the

:56:30. > :56:33.housing sector from private house builders to housing associations to

:56:34. > :56:39.councils to do a great deal more and we need more homes of all types

:56:40. > :56:45.including social rented homes. The fundamental flaw with this bill and

:56:46. > :56:51.this government's plans is that they have put all the chips on starter

:56:52. > :56:55.homes and they put all the chips on homeownership. I will come onto the

:56:56. > :57:00.reason why this is such a mistake for the homes we need in the

:57:01. > :57:06.future. I give way. I think that my horrible friend for giving way. Is

:57:07. > :57:12.the concern like IM that smaller housing situations are already

:57:13. > :57:18.beginning to streamline their programmes. For example 150 housing

:57:19. > :57:23.world holds have been told by East and housing that that they are on

:57:24. > :57:28.intermediate market rent schemes. Many key workers were either have to

:57:29. > :57:32.express an interest to buy homes within a week or be edited within

:57:33. > :57:35.two weeks. Isn't that an unforeseen consequence and what plans does the

:57:36. > :57:42.government have to do something about those families? I would say to

:57:43. > :57:45.my honourable friend this is not an unforeseen consequence, this is a

:57:46. > :57:50.laudable conflict and what they see in the policies of this bill and

:57:51. > :57:56.government. The danger with this gung ho freedom for housing

:57:57. > :58:04.associations and -- to build means that housing associations, many that

:58:05. > :58:09.are not in the stems case will see this as the green light to become

:58:10. > :58:13.almost indistinguishable from private developers. The big risk for

:58:14. > :58:18.some is they lose sight of their social mission and their boards and

:58:19. > :58:24.trustees and directors will simply not be strong enough to represent

:58:25. > :58:27.the tenets long-term interest and ensure we get the homes we need for

:58:28. > :58:32.the future. I give way to my honourable friend. Does my

:58:33. > :58:35.honourable friend agree that far from the consensual approach that

:58:36. > :58:39.the secretary of state talks about housing associations have been

:58:40. > :58:44.suffering uncertainty about their assets and have heard their tenure

:58:45. > :58:47.agreement on rent disrupted and therefore because they rely heavily

:58:48. > :58:53.on borrowing from the markets, actually some of them have said they

:58:54. > :58:56.will not build any more affordable homes and some are advising down the

:58:57. > :59:03.numbers they were going to build as a result of this bill? My honourable

:59:04. > :59:08.friend in her characteristic way because she knows as much about this

:59:09. > :59:10.as anyone in this house pointer finger to a really fundamental

:59:11. > :59:15.problem Secretary of State and his ministers now have. That is one of

:59:16. > :59:19.trust. How can councils and housing associations that just three years

:59:20. > :59:24.ago were giving a ten year guarantee about the rent that work in place

:59:25. > :59:29.for them and the properties they managed so that they can plan their

:59:30. > :59:33.business and the development and their maintenance. How can they

:59:34. > :59:37.trust this Secretary of State and his ministers? To keep their word in

:59:38. > :59:44.the future? This is a really serious problem with housing associations as

:59:45. > :59:48.well. How can they trust a monetary deal, the terms of which are not in

:59:49. > :59:51.this bill, give them no guarantee for this Secretary of State or his

:59:52. > :59:58.successor will welsh on those or that the Chancellor of the Exchequer

:59:59. > :00:01.will march in with his big boot and override the Secretary of state

:00:02. > :00:04.unless the guarantees that they seek as the basis of the steel are in

:00:05. > :00:15.this legislation, I feared the worst for them. I wondered if he had any

:00:16. > :00:20.idea where if the Secretary of State has yet told us what will happen to

:00:21. > :00:25.the tenets of the 261 national housing Federation members not

:00:26. > :00:31.represented in this deal? I find this a problematic if you grin that

:00:32. > :00:38.we are not given the details of the so-called vote that was taken by

:00:39. > :00:44.housing associations to enter this voluntary deal. Is a deal that does

:00:45. > :00:47.not therefore reflect the majority were certainly a large number who

:00:48. > :00:53.did not respond or were not consulted. There is some serious

:00:54. > :00:56.question for the Secretary of State because in this bill, despite these

:00:57. > :01:01.housing associations saying they do not want to wear have not said they

:01:02. > :01:04.will find up to this deal there is legislation that gives the

:01:05. > :01:11.regulators power. Never the less compliance on homeownership on this

:01:12. > :01:16.housing associations. Points to the point my honourable friend made

:01:17. > :01:22.earlier. How can you really take at face value the words of ministers

:01:23. > :01:27.about this being a voluntary deal when behind it lies regulation that

:01:28. > :01:32.is going to enforce the compliance? If they do not have that in place,

:01:33. > :01:35.think of the point of view of the tenants that the honourable

:01:36. > :01:40.gentleman hardly mentioned in his speech. How can this be a right to

:01:41. > :01:45.buy without the legislation behind it to give those rights? Without

:01:46. > :01:48.that legislation, without that ability to challenge the landlord if

:01:49. > :01:54.a landlord says no, this is not a right to buy. This is a right to beg

:01:55. > :01:58.to buy. I give way. I thank the honourable gentleman for giving way.

:01:59. > :02:02.As a former housing minister he would be aware that housing

:02:03. > :02:07.association tenants whether on it affordable went have significant

:02:08. > :02:12.budgetary protection from eviction. I just hope you'll take the

:02:13. > :02:16.opportunity in response to the intervention made by the number

:02:17. > :02:22.Tuesday that housing associations cannot be evicted on two weeks

:02:23. > :02:27.notice. I am surprised because the honourable gentleman has had

:02:28. > :02:31.experience on the local government select committee, if he had listened

:02:32. > :02:33.harder to the point by honourable friend made here she was talking

:02:34. > :02:39.about those tenants who were on intermediate rents without resort of

:02:40. > :02:44.protections and rights that he claims they should have. This is a

:02:45. > :02:47.real problem and this is a straw in the winter. This is a sign

:02:48. > :02:54.potentially of problems to come. Now Madam Deputy be figure I'll make

:02:55. > :02:57.some cash Madam Deputy the guy will make some progress because ministers

:02:58. > :03:05.has bent the last moment waving labour. They have their own track

:03:06. > :03:09.record now soppy the inescapable background to this bill is that that

:03:10. > :03:14.record is one of five years failure on every front, on homeownership of

:03:15. > :03:23.which the Secretary of State devoted most of his speech. Homeownership

:03:24. > :03:26.they'll each and every year -- well each and every year under the last

:03:27. > :03:31.Parliament. Each and every year since 2010. Is the lowest of the

:03:32. > :03:37.generation, homeowning households are down by 200,000 under that

:03:38. > :03:43.government, up by over a million under the Labour government that

:03:44. > :03:49.preceded them. Does he still takes the view that the fall in

:03:50. > :03:55.homeownership is not a bad thing which is what he said when he was

:03:56. > :04:02.housing minister? Oh dear Madam Deputy Gert is that really the best

:04:03. > :04:06.the Secretary of State can do? In 2009, as labour's housing minister

:04:07. > :04:10.we were struggling with the deepest recession following the global

:04:11. > :04:14.financial crisis. I was putting in place programmes to help lift the

:04:15. > :04:19.economy and warned board and to put in place the mortgage rescue scheme

:04:20. > :04:27.that helped homeowners struggling with the finances to stay in place.

:04:28. > :04:29.Honestly, it will not wash to have the Secretary of State and ministers

:04:30. > :04:35.continually coming back to what happened under labour. They have

:04:36. > :04:39.five years, it is their record and on homeownership that has been young

:04:40. > :04:42.people hit hardest. The number of young people owning their own homes

:04:43. > :04:48.now has fallen by not doing that more than a fifth since 2020. I have

:04:49. > :04:55.given plenty of trance and I will later on. I had to make progress. On

:04:56. > :05:00.private rent while family incomes have admitted ever rising private

:05:01. > :05:06.rents are up by one fifth. By ?1600 a year since 2020. On homelessness,

:05:07. > :05:10.which Madam deputies began have the under labour it is up by over a

:05:11. > :05:17.third under the Tories and rising rapidly. Housing benefits and the

:05:18. > :05:21.cost to the taxpayer have been risen by almost ?4.5 billion during the

:05:22. > :05:29.last five years despite some punishing cuts like the bedroom tax

:05:30. > :05:33.and at the same time as housing investment was flashed. On house

:05:34. > :05:39.building, the Secretary of State, the House of Commons confirmed to me

:05:40. > :05:43.that the last government built fewer homes than in any peacetime

:05:44. > :05:50.government since Lloyd George's in 1920s. The housing minister if he

:05:51. > :05:55.does not take the House of Commons let me take him to his own

:05:56. > :06:03.statistics from the live table 213. This shows him, Madam that the, that

:06:04. > :06:11.the lowest number of homes built under labour was in 2009. Following

:06:12. > :06:18.the deepest economic crisis and recession were 100 years. Below list

:06:19. > :06:24.in 2009, built under labour -- the lowest. Still higher than the year

:06:25. > :06:36.with the highest number of homes built under the Tories in 2014 which

:06:37. > :06:39.was 117,000 720 -- 100 17,720. Five years of failure on all fronts and

:06:40. > :06:42.this bill does nothing to correct the causes of that failure and in

:06:43. > :06:49.many areas will make things much worse. Let me turn now to the

:06:50. > :06:54.context of this bill -- content. I can certainly stop taking

:06:55. > :07:03.interventions, that is what has helped me up. -- held. Is clear your

:07:04. > :07:09.colleagues want me to carry on. Young people and families in the

:07:10. > :07:12.country on ordinary income face a cost of housing prices, the need for

:07:13. > :07:18.affordable homes has never been greater. But this bill don't like a

:07:19. > :07:21.death note for the ability to build affordable homes to rent and buy

:07:22. > :07:27.better so badly needed in urban and rural areas alike. It strangles the

:07:28. > :07:35.ability and obligation of the public and the private sector to build

:07:36. > :07:37.affordable homes. Does my right friend agree that shared ownership

:07:38. > :07:44.is one of the most affordable options for middle income and

:07:45. > :07:48.leave? 95% of these families will be able to afford a 3 bedroom homes

:07:49. > :07:53.shared ownership and does he agree that this bill is a huge missed

:07:54. > :07:57.opportunity for a big shape up in this area? It is a big shape up in

:07:58. > :08:02.this area? On if we want more people to be able to own affordable homes

:08:03. > :08:08.in the future. My honourable friend A's exactly right. -- is exactly

:08:09. > :08:13.right. When I talk about right to buy I talk about shared ownership

:08:14. > :08:17.homes often build their obligations of development, often managed by

:08:18. > :08:26.housing associations that will get choked out under this bill. I will

:08:27. > :08:30.come to that point in a moment. Clauses 56 - 72, Madam Deputy Gert

:08:31. > :08:35.required the forest sell-off of affordable counsel homes to fund an

:08:36. > :08:39.extension of the Dubai to the housing association homes. A power

:08:40. > :08:46.for the chancellor to impose an annual levy on councils. Honestly,

:08:47. > :08:50.this is like some pre-Magna Carta monarch running short of cash for

:08:51. > :08:55.his exploits and there is no prospect and no plan for the

:08:56. > :09:00.replacement of these homes. No one or one like for like replacement

:09:01. > :09:04.with new homes and certainly not in the area where they are lost. This

:09:05. > :09:12.is unworkable and wrong and we will oppose it. I am really grateful for

:09:13. > :09:16.you having way. In York we have over 3000 people who have the aspiration

:09:17. > :09:21.to rent homes from the Council and yet a city like York a high-value

:09:22. > :09:27.area will have to sell about 1500 of those homes. Is not preferred for

:09:28. > :09:31.national incentives in this bill? My honourable friend is absolutely

:09:32. > :09:34.right. She just heard the described these provisions as unworkable and

:09:35. > :09:37.here heard me say we will oppose it and we will challenge it at each

:09:38. > :09:40.stage of this bill through parliament and I hope she will help

:09:41. > :09:44.me and my colleagues on the front bench do just that because the truth

:09:45. > :09:50.is that in deputies the Gert many areas of the country both rural and

:09:51. > :09:55.urban especially in London, these counsel homes will not go to

:09:56. > :09:59.families struggling to buy for the first time, they'll go to

:10:00. > :10:02.speculators and available to buy-to-let land organizations. The

:10:03. > :10:06.greater the demand for affordable housing in an area the higher the

:10:07. > :10:15.value of houses on the more the Chancellor will take an annual levy

:10:16. > :10:21.up. Does he not find it remarkable that at a time when new homes being

:10:22. > :10:27.built are being bought by investors overseas this government is now

:10:28. > :10:30.forcing councils to sell off family homes for those very same warned

:10:31. > :10:36.investors at a time when the need for this to have homes that are

:10:37. > :10:41.affordable has never been greater? Indeed and my right horrible friend

:10:42. > :10:47.makes a very powerful point and beaks powerfully for the capital. He

:10:48. > :10:51.speaks for a capital and those councils in that area led by labour

:10:52. > :10:55.and led by conservatives happy it is exactly in London and place of like

:10:56. > :11:02.York where the high-value homes will be forced to be sold. In Westminster

:11:03. > :11:09.almost three quarters of their counsel homes about the high-value

:11:10. > :11:13.threshold nearly 9000 homes first to be sold in order to pay for this

:11:14. > :11:18.policy soppy not in Westminster, not in London, but across the country to

:11:19. > :11:29.pay for the Chancellor and the conservative party's manifesto

:11:30. > :11:32.place. In Kensington and Chelsea it is 97% of the stock. These are the

:11:33. > :11:38.areas of London which are most expensive which the need for

:11:39. > :11:41.affordable housing is greatest. My guess is that the conservative

:11:42. > :11:45.leader of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have had an influence on

:11:46. > :11:47.the conservative leadership of the local Government Association because

:11:48. > :11:51.they made clear they oppose this plan and they have warned of the

:11:52. > :11:58.consequences in particular on counsel waiting list, homelessness

:11:59. > :12:02.and housing benefit. Alongside this clauses 3-6 of the bill overturned

:12:03. > :12:06.25 years of planning soppy established in 1990 with cross party

:12:07. > :12:14.support by the conservatives which requires developers to help provide

:12:15. > :12:19.affordable homes. The very system of planning obligations that has

:12:20. > :12:23.delivered nearly a quarter of a million generally lead affordable

:12:24. > :12:27.homes to rent and buy in the last decade will be satisfied by

:12:28. > :12:32.ministers and opposing starter home obligations only. It is a field day

:12:33. > :12:39.for developers and a dark day for families wanting to rent or buy

:12:40. > :12:47.affordable home. Isn't the legislative proposal on starter

:12:48. > :12:51.homes worrying for two reasons? The reality is this cause will not add a

:12:52. > :12:54.single property being built over the next course of this Parliament.

:12:55. > :12:58.Every property being built as a starter home will be replacing a

:12:59. > :13:04.home that would have been built under one .6 obligations on an

:13:05. > :13:07.affordable basic. Secondly, it is an incredibly centralising measure

:13:08. > :13:11.where central government will dictate the details of planning

:13:12. > :13:15.commissions on each side of local authority and sees a planning

:13:16. > :13:20.application form upright my honourable friend is right on both

:13:21. > :13:24.counts. Is committee is currently conducting an inquiry into how

:13:25. > :13:27.associations soppy I look forward to the report he produces because this

:13:28. > :13:31.will have great authority on the cross party basis and help the House

:13:32. > :13:38.and the other place get to grips with what this housing and planning

:13:39. > :13:41.bill really means for the future. The chartered Institute for housing,

:13:42. > :13:47.the independent professional experts say this means for the future is a

:13:48. > :13:53.fire sale of affordable counsel homes to fund the pension of right

:13:54. > :13:58.to buy could mean the loss of 195,000 genuinely affordable social

:13:59. > :14:04.rented homes in the next five years. While housing associations may well

:14:05. > :14:08.build more homes as they sell on the right to buy, many will increasingly

:14:09. > :14:13.build for open market sale and rent. Indeed a third now say already they

:14:14. > :14:20.will no longer build any affordable homes. For organizations with a

:14:21. > :14:26.social mission who have played a big part in providing publicly funded

:14:27. > :14:31.homes for decades, this is almost as shocking as one third of the NHS

:14:32. > :14:35.hospitals think they're only prepared to take private patients.

:14:36. > :14:38.This bill is a milestone movement for affordable housing in this

:14:39. > :14:45.country and is a massive step that words. Madam Deputy Gert let me turn

:14:46. > :14:49.to starter homes. We welcome the government wanting to make a home

:14:50. > :14:53.ownership more accessible to people on ordinary incomes and the people

:14:54. > :14:55.in particular. The job and home ownership over the last five years

:14:56. > :15:01.to its lowest level for a generation means that it now essential element

:15:02. > :15:05.to meeting the country's housing needs and aspirations. But what is

:15:06. > :15:10.being done is not working and these plans will do too little to help. We

:15:11. > :15:17.need fresh thinking radical ideas and a much writer public debate for

:15:18. > :15:20.the future and that is why I have commissioned the chief executive of

:15:21. > :15:25.the country's largest house builder. One of the largest house builders to

:15:26. > :15:32.undertake an independent review into the decline in home ownership

:15:33. > :15:35.aborted by an panel of major figures in housing and economic. The

:15:36. > :15:40.secondary estate must face the fact that the government starter homes

:15:41. > :15:44.was amply not be avoidable and will be a nonstarter for families on

:15:45. > :15:49.ordinary incomes. Sheltered calculate across the country you

:15:50. > :15:55.would need an income of ?50,000 a year and a deposit of 40,000 to

:15:56. > :16:00.afford a starter home and in London you would need an income of 77,008

:16:01. > :16:06.deposit at nearly 98,000. This is simply out of reach for most of the

:16:07. > :16:11.middle income working families who need help buying a home the most.

:16:12. > :16:15.Madame Deputy Speaker there is no control in this bill to stop those

:16:16. > :16:19.who can't afford to buy without help from the government taking advantage

:16:20. > :16:26.of this game. There is a big risk that the people who benefit most are

:16:27. > :16:30.those who need the help least and as shelter says with a starter almost

:16:31. > :16:35.programme the only group it appears to help on a significant scale will

:16:36. > :16:38.be those already earning high salaries who should be able to

:16:39. > :16:45.afford on the open market without assistance. Let me make this point,

:16:46. > :16:48.Madame Deputy Speaker, when this was first put forward prior to the

:16:49. > :16:51.election it was clearly intended to be focused on using that land that

:16:52. > :16:57.had not already been designated for housing. The aim for it was to be a

:16:58. > :17:00.Brownfield exceptions policy which will be a welcome addition to

:17:01. > :17:07.existing affordable and other housing. In the policy now

:17:08. > :17:12.proposed, starter homes are clearly to be instead of not additional to

:17:13. > :17:16.affordable homes to rent. Not my words, Madame Deputy Speaker, but

:17:17. > :17:20.the words of the previous permanent Secretary of the Communities and

:17:21. > :17:27.Local Government department Lord Kerslake. Is the government's on

:17:28. > :17:31.impact that confirms starter homes will not be additional to housing

:17:32. > :17:36.supply. The point my horrible friend chair of the select committee made

:17:37. > :17:39.in his intervention. Before this bill goes through the House, the

:17:40. > :17:45.government must as a minimum change the bill to do two things. First,

:17:46. > :17:50.make any starter homes to develop lower obligations additional to

:17:51. > :17:53.affordable homes not a substitute. Second, to put in place be

:17:54. > :18:01.guaranteed and guard against any of the scheme. Let me touch on

:18:02. > :18:08.planning, part six and seven before moving towards a conclusion. In a

:18:09. > :18:12.political panic about falling so far short of the new bill numbers they

:18:13. > :18:17.have pledged, this bill gives ministers wide range to impose new

:18:18. > :18:23.house building and override both local community concerns and local

:18:24. > :18:27.plans. With a total of 32 new housing and planning powers for the

:18:28. > :18:32.centre, this is legislation that signalled the end of localism. We

:18:33. > :18:36.welcome the measures to speed up the planning process where there is a

:18:37. > :18:41.clear case for doing so and whereby the local decision-making is not

:18:42. > :18:45.ignored. But there are serious concerns and I said to the housing

:18:46. > :18:48.minister there are serious concerns and you might want to a Japanese

:18:49. > :18:51.when he winds up in the House this afternoon. There are serious

:18:52. > :18:54.concerns about some aspect of this bill which will be shared on all

:18:55. > :19:00.sides of the House. These concerns are heightened burst by the fact

:19:01. > :19:03.there have been no consultation at all on the most radical of these

:19:04. > :19:11.planning proposals and second that so much is left as open ended powers

:19:12. > :19:18.for the Secretary of State. August three, four, 97, 102, 107, these are

:19:19. > :19:21.very far-reaching changes and instead of laughing I suggest the

:19:22. > :19:25.honourable gentleman looks at the bill and looks at those five clauses

:19:26. > :19:29.soppy these are far-reaching changes which must be clarified and

:19:30. > :19:33.justified by the Secretary of State which should be restricted as this

:19:34. > :19:39.bill goes through Parliament if they cannot be justified. To do so, I say

:19:40. > :19:45.to the separate area of state and the Minister was about to intervene

:19:46. > :19:48.will he guarantee because he should do this, will he guarantee that the

:19:49. > :19:52.draft regulations are available to the House when these clauses are

:19:53. > :19:58.debated in the Public Bill Committee? I will give way to the

:19:59. > :20:01.housing minister on that point. I think that the right honourable

:20:02. > :20:06.gentleman for generously giving away this afternoon. What you just

:20:07. > :20:09.clarify he is going to acknowledge the fact that some of what this bill

:20:10. > :20:13.is looking to do and we'll deliver is actually moving on from the

:20:14. > :20:18.atrocious legacy he left at the housing minister when he had just

:20:19. > :20:22.88,000 home-building starts followed by 95,000 over the last two years of

:20:23. > :20:28.the labour government. Below a levels of the 1920s and that is the

:20:29. > :20:36.legacy he left us with. No wonder they look so concerned beef behind

:20:37. > :20:40.them because that's bluster, this promise of big housing numbers from

:20:41. > :20:45.which they are falling so far short will not wash. He has his own track

:20:46. > :20:49.record, never mind blaming labour or the last Labour Parliament, five

:20:50. > :20:55.years of failing in housing under conservative ministers. That is what

:20:56. > :20:59.he has to answer for. Madame Deputy Speaker, by the way he did not

:21:00. > :21:04.answer the important point that house and the proper scrutiny of

:21:05. > :21:08.this bill on behalf of the public whether the strapped regulations for

:21:09. > :21:12.these sweeping new bank hours will be available to the Public Bill

:21:13. > :21:16.Committee when they come to deliver. He is nodding his head, I

:21:17. > :21:21.am not a sure if that is a yes or no. If he will give us a agenda he

:21:22. > :21:25.will give us ASAP can intervene. I was just like to know if you'll

:21:26. > :21:29.answer the question I intervened to ask if he recognise he left a legacy

:21:30. > :21:35.of 88,000 starts, the lowest since the 1920s. Madame Deputy Speaker,

:21:36. > :21:38.eight out of ten of the genuinely affordable homes he claims credit

:21:39. > :21:41.for what started under a, commissioned under us, paid for with

:21:42. > :21:48.a commitment of investment undressed up yellow I give way. This is a

:21:49. > :21:55.straightforward and honest question if I may put to him. Without direct

:21:56. > :21:58.intervention of the Secretary of State, how does he deal with a

:21:59. > :22:01.situation where 35% of local planning authorities had not taken

:22:02. > :22:07.their plans to the whole system and one in five have now is land in

:22:08. > :22:13.future? That is a major supply-side issue. How would his party deal with

:22:14. > :22:17.that? I will send the honourable gentleman a copy of the lion's

:22:18. > :22:23.report with exactly the answer to that problem. The problem for him

:22:24. > :22:26.now is that, even where councils and local communities have local plans

:22:27. > :22:29.in place there are powers the Secretary of State is taking under

:22:30. > :22:33.this bill to override those even when they have been consulted upon,

:22:34. > :22:38.agreed, even when they are in place soppy that should worry the

:22:39. > :22:41.honourable gentleman. I will not take more interventions because I

:22:42. > :22:44.want to finish on this note. This is an extraordinary personal and

:22:45. > :22:50.political retreat for the Secretary of State. He was Mr localism, the

:22:51. > :22:56.Minister for seeking deals, the Minister who signed off the radical

:22:57. > :23:01.devolution of housing finances of the Council in 2012. Now he is the

:23:02. > :23:05.Minister fronting this bill with 32 new centralising powers and a

:23:06. > :23:13.legalized has to grab for the chancellor from counsel. He was Mr

:23:14. > :23:17.conservative minister with political roots in the old FTP and the

:23:18. > :23:20.Minister who managed to strike a widely welcome balance in the

:23:21. > :23:24.national planning policy framework in 2012 between the rights of local

:23:25. > :23:31.residents and the requirements to build more homes. Now he is the

:23:32. > :23:35.Minister explain the extreme plans that would all but into a new

:23:36. > :23:38.affordable housing for social rent and overturned 25 years of planning

:23:39. > :23:43.law to let house boulders completely off the hook over new affordable

:23:44. > :23:49.homes and mixed development. He was Mr decency, Madame Deputy Speaker.

:23:50. > :23:53.The well-meaning minister, that people felt they could deal with and

:23:54. > :23:59.trust. Now he is the Minister that would have known the OS as

:24:00. > :24:04.reclassification of housing associations was on the cards who

:24:05. > :24:07.ducked the questions I put to him earlier but never the last anchorage

:24:08. > :24:10.housing associations to the voluntary deal soppy he is the

:24:11. > :24:17.Minister that the House have seen this afternoon who has to duck and

:24:18. > :24:21.dive to abate the truth that counsel and housing association homes sold

:24:22. > :24:26.off under this bill will not be replaced 141 like for like, let

:24:27. > :24:31.alone in the local areas in which they are lost. I do have some

:24:32. > :24:42.sympathy for the Secretary of State. At the risk of disagreeing with my

:24:43. > :24:46.honourable friend I do have some sympathy for the Secretary of State.

:24:47. > :24:50.It is a bill driven by the politics of the Conservative Party, not the

:24:51. > :24:55.leads of the country. The reality is that it is not his bill. That cuts

:24:56. > :25:00.to tax credits, this is the chancellors work. Of his political

:25:01. > :25:05.fingerprints all over it. It is a bill that makes the same mistakes as

:25:06. > :25:16.tax credit, dividing politics, overriding good policies. Above all,

:25:17. > :25:20.it fails the same low and middle income working families that the

:25:21. > :25:24.Tories claim they will represent. It will lead to a huge loss of

:25:25. > :25:32.affordable homes to rent and buy and be let downs of those who believe

:25:33. > :25:37.the Tories election. Is a bill that will prove to be bad policy and

:25:38. > :25:46.politics. It will be a slow burn problem all the way to 2020, we will

:25:47. > :25:50.oppose it in the voting lobbies tonight. The original question was

:25:51. > :25:53.that the bill be read a second time. When an amendment is proposed on the

:25:54. > :26:01.order paper, the question is that the amendment be made. There are 55

:26:02. > :26:08.members wishing to speak in this debate. I am going to starve a time

:26:09. > :26:12.limit on five minutes. That does not include the spokesperson. As members

:26:13. > :26:18.could keep interventions to a minimum, then we may get through the

:26:19. > :26:19.list. The more interventions that are the less likely we are to get

:26:20. > :26:31.through the list. I shall speak quickly. This bill has

:26:32. > :26:38.many excellent provisions that will improve the availability of housing.

:26:39. > :26:42.I should concentrate my remarks on a narrow aspect of its provisions as

:26:43. > :26:47.set out in Clause 22. This call and chapter that relates to world

:26:48. > :26:51.landlords who break the law, treat their tenants badly and do not

:26:52. > :26:59.maintain their properties in habitable condition. The bill

:27:00. > :27:02.states, the Secretary of State will establish that landlords and local

:27:03. > :27:07.housing authorities have responsibility to maintain the

:27:08. > :27:11.content of the database. There is no doubt that this information is

:27:12. > :27:17.necessary for the protection of tenants and the and everyone in

:27:18. > :27:24.general. It will be a useful tool for everyone and carrying out there

:27:25. > :27:27.options. Local authorities do not know which properties and their

:27:28. > :27:31.areas are rented privately or who were were the landlords are, it will

:27:32. > :27:35.be difficult to compile such a register. It is after the event will

:27:36. > :27:41.be landlord has been brought to their attention. A simple look at

:27:42. > :27:45.cost method of acquiring the necessary information will be to add

:27:46. > :27:51.a question to the registration forms seeking information about the owner

:27:52. > :27:55.of the property as proposed in my private members bill will come the

:27:56. > :27:59.local government financed tenure information bill. This will

:28:00. > :28:03.facilitate the implementation of Clause 22 of the housing and

:28:04. > :28:06.planning bill while providing a database of privately rented

:28:07. > :28:10.properties and landlords from which to root out the unscrupulous ones.

:28:11. > :28:18.The information will be readily available for the affected of those

:28:19. > :28:21.affecting the private renting sect and taxation of landlords. It will

:28:22. > :28:27.help with housing related issues such as investigating illegal

:28:28. > :28:32.subletting and unregulated houses and loss of occupation and benefit

:28:33. > :28:35.fraud. Also planning enforcement and public health issues. Will help the

:28:36. > :28:42.police were criminal offences are being committed in HMRC war rental

:28:43. > :28:46.intercom is not clear taxation purposes. Councils may do this

:28:47. > :28:52.already but they're not required to do so. In past the registry has been

:28:53. > :28:59.considered, but not work as suggested, only the good landlords

:29:00. > :29:03.would comply even with sanctions for not registration. A registered of

:29:04. > :29:07.good landlords will lead us no further or forward in finding the

:29:08. > :29:11.minority of landlords operating under the radar in causing misery to

:29:12. > :29:16.their tenets. Registration costs would inevitably be passed on to

:29:17. > :29:23.tenants. In 2009, an influx of assessment of the scheme for

:29:24. > :29:28.landlords was found difficult. Were licenses were used the results for

:29:29. > :29:35.Apache. The private renting sect increasing in size, it is important

:29:36. > :29:40.to see a workable solution to offer tenant greater protection against

:29:41. > :29:45.rogue landlords, over 4 million households are rented privately in

:29:46. > :29:51.2013-14. Of the majority of private sector tenants are satisfied,

:29:52. > :29:57.driving up standards may only progress if privately rented homes

:29:58. > :29:59.amid landlords are identified. An estimated one third of privately

:30:00. > :30:05.rented homes do not meet decent home criteria. And one in six preventing

:30:06. > :30:11.threat to health or safety. Condition such as damp, unstable

:30:12. > :30:16.electrical appliances, lack of insulation, leaky plumbing, faulty

:30:17. > :30:22.fire alarms are all examples that some properties do not meet decent

:30:23. > :30:26.home criteria. Local authorities will act in the capacity or the

:30:27. > :30:30.resources to effectively inspect and enforce issues in the private

:30:31. > :30:34.renting sector on a widescale. Readily available information on the

:30:35. > :30:39.owners of privately rented our parties in the area would enable

:30:40. > :30:44.local authorities to targeted finite resources on trouble some tentative

:30:45. > :30:51.addresses via the land Registry. Deregister requires, by Clause 22,

:30:52. > :30:57.it is welcomed by citizens of my bureau and the residential landlord

:30:58. > :31:02.assumes two Association which is... The simplest of collecting this

:31:03. > :31:04.information about the tenure of properties and identified rogue

:31:05. > :31:10.landlords will be by putting an additional question on council tax

:31:11. > :31:12.registration forms and I shall be tabling an amendment to the housing

:31:13. > :31:22.and planning bill to these affect which will find favour I hope as the

:31:23. > :31:27.bill progresses. Think you for allowing me to participate in this

:31:28. > :31:48.debate. It has been classified, following up on points she defends.

:31:49. > :31:52.I will read what he said, ... It is clear it could be someone that has

:31:53. > :31:56.consequences over the last... They are not challenging the

:31:57. > :32:08.classification, but there is no luck. This classification does have

:32:09. > :32:13.complications. In terms of my contribution, I will look a definite

:32:14. > :32:32.aspects and approaches, I hope I will benefit both sides of members.

:32:33. > :32:39.At a bird is accepted as one of the leading registration, since 2012

:32:40. > :32:47.Scotland has been classes made unintentionally as homeless. Have

:32:48. > :33:07.also seen over the years the number of people have been under that

:33:08. > :33:18.registration reform. I want them to think about what is in front of

:33:19. > :33:33.them. Lastly,... Stickers on the opposite suggest, Scotland

:33:34. > :33:48.at the same time we have still been finding social housing, I think the

:33:49. > :33:49.debate comes to political allies, it is against home ownership and that

:33:50. > :34:01.is not how it should be. He has given us a list of director,

:34:02. > :34:06.Agassi explained under eight years of the government, more than 150,000

:34:07. > :34:10.people are still on council waiting list in half of those homes in

:34:11. > :34:36.Scotland still fall short of the official quota. All houses meet the

:34:37. > :34:48.standards in Scotland. It is incomparable.

:34:49. > :35:06.There are many affordable houses being built in Scotland. We are

:35:07. > :35:14.doing our best. In terms of right to buy, it has legislated to take that

:35:15. > :35:28.forward. I should point out, some of the

:35:29. > :35:36.members on the opposite house, not as our point of interest... I do

:35:37. > :35:44.know people benefit from that, I see what happens people by their homes

:35:45. > :35:54.that happens over the years. It is a policy that was right at the time.

:35:55. > :36:04.We now see the problems from that. That has led to the problems of

:36:05. > :36:14.today. Many areas previous have all disappeared from the stock.

:36:15. > :36:53.That drives up the housing benefit costs... It was estimated ...

:36:54. > :37:15.Another unintended consequence is that in some cases people that

:37:16. > :37:19.bought houses many years ago, people get trapped in houses because there

:37:20. > :37:33.are not enough houses available for them to move into. For example

:37:34. > :37:37.counsel houses, they prioritise... You do not always have houses

:37:38. > :37:47.available for people who need them. Another unintended consequence, I

:37:48. > :38:03.have seen this as a counsellor, people buy the properties that all

:38:04. > :38:20.seems fine when you sign the dotted line,...

:38:21. > :38:39.You are left with that affected some housing schemes because they were

:38:40. > :38:48.not paid for the upgrades. I am asking why they will want to repeat

:38:49. > :38:53.that. He speaks about the one for one replacement, I think that is as

:38:54. > :39:10.fraught as the previous policy. -- fraud. At the same time, it is to

:39:11. > :39:23.polarize. It the government is proposing to cut, but we are looking

:39:24. > :39:31.at a subsidy for people to buy the homes they are already in the.

:39:32. > :39:36.Building more homes will drive down the cost of rent and of course

:39:37. > :40:35.create more jobs. Instead there is going to be a

:40:36. > :40:44.target for and that, so family homes will be sold off. That does not do

:40:45. > :40:53.anything for long-term housing needs. On that point, the council

:40:54. > :40:56.next to his favourite borough, it has a very wise leader who states

:40:57. > :41:00.that right to buy could wipe out swathes of social housing and it

:41:01. > :41:03.would not be able to house people who need housing because of this

:41:04. > :41:14.bill. I agree with that intervention. In terms of the

:41:15. > :41:21.government, we have Artie seemed that it has not worked. The number

:41:22. > :41:44.of right to buy sales. Another experience I have seen, I

:41:45. > :42:09.have seen the benefits of targeted counsel homes. Special need housing

:42:10. > :42:12.and housing design for the older community it is life changing for

:42:13. > :42:21.those tenants. It is heart-warming to hear those stories. We can talk

:42:22. > :42:25.about the statistics and targets, hi Matt our role people and families

:42:26. > :42:33.and that is the most important thing. Another consequence about

:42:34. > :42:43.housing staff of the health benefits. If homes are more

:42:44. > :42:49.energy-efficient that leads to healthier families. As stated

:42:50. > :43:03.earlier on social housing will reduce... One thing I asked the

:43:04. > :43:18.housing Minister to consider I will appreciate if... That is something

:43:19. > :43:33.that maybe he can bring up. I am going to finish by highlighting

:43:34. > :43:39.the housing Association is seeming as a highly effective mechanism for

:43:40. > :43:50.keeping debt off of the balance sheet. The benches opposite have

:43:51. > :43:51.argued that in order to save future generations it has to happen and

:43:52. > :44:11.that is one of their arguments. Therefore, I will conclude by saying

:44:12. > :44:19.some economics had up and some do not.

:44:20. > :44:28.As mayor my right honourable friend has overseen 100,000 affordable

:44:29. > :44:36.homes built in his time in London. Which is 25,000 more than his

:44:37. > :44:42.predecessor. I am not going to give way. We have little time. As he will

:44:43. > :44:50.lead knowledge when he speaks later on, the gap between supply and

:44:51. > :44:56.demand remains very wide. With this action it will grow wider. Few

:44:57. > :45:00.people doubt that London is the greatest city on earth. Is why so

:45:01. > :45:10.many people want to come here, with that success down to much of the

:45:11. > :45:15.success of my honourable friend. I feel obliged to take an intervention

:45:16. > :45:20.for my honourable friend. The big boot current Mayor of London has

:45:21. > :45:28.made any errors when it comes to housing. -- does he think. He has

:45:29. > :45:38.25,000 more than his predecessor. And he has laid the framework for

:45:39. > :45:47.even more progress. Because of the success of London, the population is

:45:48. > :45:57.expected to grow by 1.5 million. Already the average first-time home

:45:58. > :46:01.cost for hundred 12,000... Closing that gap between supply and demand

:46:02. > :46:07.is absolutely a priority. We can, we have the tools, finance and land.

:46:08. > :46:15.There are vast swathes of public-sector Brownfield land we can

:46:16. > :46:18.unlock. We are going to have to unlock that land to build the homes

:46:19. > :46:25.we need to. We have an opportunity to redevelop. Such as 1950 states at

:46:26. > :46:28.the end of their life, for which the opportunities are vast as long as he

:46:29. > :46:33.had the consent of the residents who live there. This housing bill today

:46:34. > :46:37.is part of the story, no one here pretends that this is the solution

:46:38. > :46:43.to London's housing prices. But it will give large numbers of people a

:46:44. > :46:48.chance to own their own homes, for hundred 40,000 units in London will

:46:49. > :46:52.gain the rights abide. More blended families will not have the right to

:46:53. > :46:55.purchase their home at the discount funded through the sale of

:46:56. > :47:06.high-value counsel homes. In principle, I strongly support this.

:47:07. > :47:13.There is no doubt, my honourable friend is on the front bench, we

:47:14. > :47:16.know this bill needs amending. Lending counsel homes are far more

:47:17. > :47:19.valuable than also were. Without this change were able to see a

:47:20. > :47:28.disproportional flow of resources out of London. We should extend the

:47:29. > :47:32.right to buy, but at the same time we also must have a significant

:47:33. > :47:37.number of low-cost tenant. It is possible, the amendment I would

:47:38. > :47:42.table will ask for a binding guarantee that London will see a net

:47:43. > :47:48.gain in affordable housing as a consequence of this policy. I

:47:49. > :47:54.guarantee that in addition to the replacement of homes, London will

:47:55. > :47:58.see at least two low-cost homes built for every one sold. What is

:47:59. > :48:03.the intent of the amendment being tabled today. I have to say with the

:48:04. > :48:06.support of every single bench conservative colleague represented

:48:07. > :48:10.in the London constituency and I strongly urge the government to work

:48:11. > :48:14.with us to help us to deliver what we need to. Alongside this binding

:48:15. > :48:19.commitment, I do want to pay tribute to my right honourable friend for

:48:20. > :48:22.securing a bill with the housing Association, the right to buy his

:48:23. > :48:28.way to channel eight ten of the amount of cash into London's housing

:48:29. > :48:37.Association. They said their credit ratings are likely to improve. I

:48:38. > :48:41.wanted David Montague, and I asked him how we can work together to turn

:48:42. > :48:47.that cash into new low-cost homes. It is clear from his response that

:48:48. > :48:50.they are well up for that challenge. They have committed to more than

:48:51. > :48:53.doubling their investment programmes as long as the next mayor works with

:48:54. > :49:00.the current government and shows that that land which I mentioned

:49:01. > :49:06.earlier is freed up. And I have made that commitment as a mayor who may

:49:07. > :49:10.be successful in the next election. If we get this right London will see

:49:11. > :49:16.a significant net gain in affordable homes from this policy, two low-cost

:49:17. > :49:22.homes built for everyone Council house sold. Up with a commitment

:49:23. > :49:25.from London's housing Association. That if a bill that opposition can

:49:26. > :49:32.support if could just resist the temptation briefly to wave their

:49:33. > :49:37.flags during this debate. I am conscious of the time limits I will

:49:38. > :49:40.be brief on the further measures. I strongly welcome the governments

:49:41. > :49:43.commitment to start her homes, no doubt that will help a lot of people

:49:44. > :49:48.but he needs to work for London. The 20% discount on the home and London

:49:49. > :49:55.is out of reach for many people. The bottom line is that we are going to

:49:56. > :49:58.need to use everything was available resource to deliver affordable homes

:49:59. > :50:01.at all incomes. Finally, the aspiration of homeownership must not

:50:02. > :50:14.blind us to the difficulties of the millions of people who are renting.

:50:15. > :50:24.I wore warmly welcomed plans to crack down on rogue landlords.

:50:25. > :50:31.I begin with those aspects of the bill that I agree with. There are

:50:32. > :50:43.some measures and the primary renting sector which I can support,

:50:44. > :50:46.because the proposals on fixed... The readme payment orders or

:50:47. > :50:51.recommendations of the Select Committee in its report in the last

:50:52. > :50:56.Parliament. I am sorry the government has not gone further to

:50:57. > :51:01.do with the problems of the short tenure is that most people have in

:51:02. > :51:16.the private renting your. Or the problem of lack of resources for

:51:17. > :51:19.local orgies. -- local of Ortiz. -- authorities. I hope the government

:51:20. > :51:24.would consider putting them into this and ensure that there are five

:51:25. > :51:27.yearly checks on the electoral safety in homes. This is something

:51:28. > :51:38.the government could do easily which would help greatly. In terms of

:51:39. > :51:41.affordable housing, if we are going to achieve the 200,000 homes a year

:51:42. > :51:48.the government expires or the 250 homes we need to. We can only do

:51:49. > :51:52.that with a serious long-term plan to build social housing for rent in

:51:53. > :51:56.this country. That is why it has been a long-term decline in house

:51:57. > :52:00.building because that whole site to has diminished. My concern is that

:52:01. > :52:04.the measures and this bill will actually lead to fewer houses being

:52:05. > :52:09.built at friends people cannot afford and that by the end of this

:52:10. > :52:20.Parliament means fewer homes to rent in 2020 and then there were in 2015.

:52:21. > :52:24.Take the right that some housing associations if they choose good was

:52:25. > :52:30.placed properties on it like for like basis in the same locality. It

:52:31. > :52:35.will depend on the circumstances. I have not seen any information from

:52:36. > :52:38.ministers or anyone else that has persuaded me that local authority

:52:39. > :52:43.has any chance of replacing the properties they have to sell off on

:52:44. > :52:52.a like for like aces. Not any chance at all. I will be interested if he

:52:53. > :52:57.has evidence to give to the Select Committee that he will provided. The

:52:58. > :53:04.problem with the Libra by dashed rights abide. There is not a new

:53:05. > :53:09.home proposed by these legislations, every starter home

:53:10. > :53:15.that is built will be built instead of an affordable home under current

:53:16. > :53:24.arrangements. That is the case. In the last ten years, they have been

:53:25. > :53:28.built by that agreement. They will not be built in this Parliament.

:53:29. > :53:35.There will be starter homes instead. Here is a whole range of

:53:36. > :53:39.problems for affordable rents that one now will not be billed according

:53:40. > :53:45.to these puzzles. I will give way wants to this member.

:53:46. > :53:51.What does he make of the comments of the chief executive of the national

:53:52. > :53:55.housing Federation who said that our government will see an increase in

:53:56. > :54:02.the numbers of houses being built and ease the pressure in all parts

:54:03. > :54:05.of the market? He gave evidence the other day he has said he believes

:54:06. > :54:09.that more homes of the built under the right to buy proposals, he is

:54:10. > :54:12.actually said that they don't support the proposals to force the

:54:13. > :54:18.sell-off of council homes to pay for it. He has made it very clear about

:54:19. > :54:23.that. On top of that, the national housing Federation came out very

:54:24. > :54:26.strongly indeed against the changes in rent levels which the charts

:54:27. > :54:30.server brought in his budget which will cause significant reductions in

:54:31. > :54:34.the number of homes built by both local authorities and housing

:54:35. > :54:38.associations. The city council would lose ?27 million of revenue, the

:54:39. > :54:41.other housing Association, ?7 million of revenue because of these

:54:42. > :54:48.measures in the course of this Parliament. You have a key problem

:54:49. > :54:50.with the legislation, having congratulate the Secretary of State

:54:51. > :54:55.for the decentralization proposals the other day in debate of the

:54:56. > :55:00.chambers, there are very centuries indeed. The starter homes programme

:55:01. > :55:04.micromanaged section one 06 agreements where local authorities

:55:05. > :55:08.do a deal on each individual site. There'll be an imposition of how it

:55:09. > :55:13.should be done, what homes should be built, on each individual site from

:55:14. > :55:19.the centre. You add to that the permission that has been given

:55:20. > :55:21.automatically on Brownfield sites where local authorities would have

:55:22. > :55:24.the rights to understand it to dissociate infrastructure deals as

:55:25. > :55:28.part of the planning permissions. You have got the major

:55:29. > :55:35.infrastructure projects, housing can be approved with no local consent

:55:36. > :55:41.whatsoever. The RTP I have described these measures were the increasing

:55:42. > :55:46.powers do these measures as extraordinary. Extraordinary in

:55:47. > :55:48.terms of their control. Depends on the housing revenue account,

:55:49. > :55:55.controlled of total rents, control of rents of several high-income

:55:56. > :55:57.families, individuals focusing local to sell off properties mean that the

:55:58. > :56:01.housing revenue account, a stand-alone accounts is introduced

:56:02. > :56:05.by the Secretary of State when he was the Minister a few years ago is

:56:06. > :56:09.now in account which is very firmly in the Chancellor's pocket.

:56:10. > :56:15.Finally, I will say many deputies beaker, two measures in these

:56:16. > :56:22.proposals. Affordable homes of ?450,000, can anyone seriously

:56:23. > :56:28.believe that? Or, a company with two members of the family working hard,

:56:29. > :56:33.earning the living wage, describing having their income, their family

:56:34. > :56:37.income described in this legislation as high. Hi family incomes, Madam

:56:38. > :56:41.Deputy Speaker does of my things alone she'll call out of touch this

:56:42. > :56:44.government is, and how irrelevant these measures are to the real

:56:45. > :56:49.problems facing the majority of people in this country. Hear, hear!

:56:50. > :56:53.But added the Speaker is a huge budget to follow my friends for

:56:54. > :56:59.Richmond who I dearly hope will be the next mayor of London. Hear,

:57:00. > :57:08.hear! My friend in parliament or neighbour, the Honorable member for

:57:09. > :57:10.Oxbridge to seek reassurance on one central point. I support the

:57:11. > :57:14.principle of this bill, it is designed to make it easier for

:57:15. > :57:18.people to own their home, to build their home, and to get better

:57:19. > :57:23.protection from rogue landlords. You will have my support, I do have a

:57:24. > :57:27.concern which I would like the front bench to respond. That is around the

:57:28. > :57:32.question of whether this bill will see an increase in the supply of

:57:33. > :57:37.affordable homes in London across all tenant. That if the number one

:57:38. > :57:41.political challenge we face in London as my Honorable friend has

:57:42. > :57:44.said. I am in London MP, Ira present an area where it is almost

:57:45. > :57:51.impossible for someone to rent a one-bedroom flat for less than ?1000

:57:52. > :57:57.a month, or by aid for less than ?250,000. One-bedroom flat. Despite

:57:58. > :58:02.the best efforts, most of what we see being built in this area is what

:58:03. > :58:05.the market can pay rather than what the community needs which is homes

:58:06. > :58:15.young people can afford, and which key walkers can afford. It is to

:58:16. > :58:19.increase the stock of affordable housing across all tenant, the

:58:20. > :58:23.schools to the heart of the kind of London who want to see and hang onto

:58:24. > :58:26.future generations, must be a city in which people of all ages and

:58:27. > :58:32.incomes can live together in neighbourhoods that are not

:58:33. > :58:38.segregated by wealth or crass or nationality. Derek, I am not to have

:58:39. > :58:42.any time to give way as much as I love the Honorable member. By the

:58:43. > :58:46.Secretary of State was very clear in saying, so that the governments of

:58:47. > :58:54.all colours have failed the capital, none more so than 13 years of new

:58:55. > :58:59.Labour. Hear, hear! The shadow minister was good enough to express

:59:00. > :59:03.regrets, no more than under those 13 years and lost 400,000 units of

:59:04. > :59:06.affordable housing. That is the whole we are having to climb out of

:59:07. > :59:15.which the Mayor of London deserves in him for in terms of starting that

:59:16. > :59:18.process. That is the question, with its content do not contribute to the

:59:19. > :59:21.biggest political challenges which is in Crete the supply of affordable

:59:22. > :59:25.homes. But as he grabbed not yet received a clear enough answer to

:59:26. > :59:29.that question. There are considerable grounds for optimism.

:59:30. > :59:32.The Secretary of State has up as many quite good today that he is

:59:33. > :59:37.passionate about putting London at the front of the surge in new builds

:59:38. > :59:41.that to see over the next five years, I believe him when he talked

:59:42. > :59:46.about one-for-one replacement, I see huge potential in the deal that he

:59:47. > :59:50.has so cleverly struck with housing associations. Let us push those

:59:51. > :59:54.housing associations to be more ambitious, it is called right to

:59:55. > :59:59.buy, for then it should be also silver build. They have the capacity

:00:00. > :00:03.to will go my to do much better, I will not have any time to give way

:00:04. > :00:07.to my friend. We should be doing them to do better which is

:00:08. > :00:11.encouraging them to look at two for one, where I need some reassurance

:00:12. > :00:16.is where the money will get recycled from the sale of high-value

:00:17. > :00:22.console. At a great encouragement that this government has overseen an

:00:23. > :00:25.escalation of your placement ratios that had fallen so shamefully bonded

:00:26. > :00:28.Labor, there still is a question of whether there is enough money to go

:00:29. > :00:33.around given that most of these properties will be in London to find

:00:34. > :00:36.what we want to do which is to fund the discounts on right to buy him a

:00:37. > :00:41.to fund the Brownfield regeneration that we need to see, but also to

:00:42. > :00:45.replace an stock on him ambitious level. My original position was the

:00:46. > :00:52.same as the prior Mayor of London which is to argue for a re-offensive

:00:53. > :00:56.of these proceeds, I recognise that raised substantial questions for the

:00:57. > :01:03.integrity of the validity of the policy of. What I want to see is a

:01:04. > :01:06.change to the bill that the Honorable member for Richmond put

:01:07. > :01:11.forward for which I supported wholeheartedly an amendment that

:01:12. > :01:14.would make it clear that this bill will do what is needed to meet the

:01:15. > :01:18.big political challenge in London and that increase the supply of

:01:19. > :01:26.affordable homes and make the city the place that we continue to love

:01:27. > :01:28.to live, and work in. Hear, hear! Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow

:01:29. > :01:35.the Honorable gentleman who for most part had a very compelling speech. I

:01:36. > :01:40.write to speak in an absolutely crucial debate for many Londoners, I

:01:41. > :01:43.commend the speech from the front bench and from our Honorable friend

:01:44. > :01:46.each year of the select committee. There is, Madam Deputy Speaker

:01:47. > :01:53.housing prices in London. With the growing shortage of affordable homes

:01:54. > :01:58.to buy and rent. Precious public services are struggling to attract

:01:59. > :02:03.and retain workers. The city's business is site housing as their

:02:04. > :02:07.single biggest concern. Many Londoners are in distress over

:02:08. > :02:14.housing from the inability to make any progress over council housing,

:02:15. > :02:18.to poor quality combination of. One of the biggest issues is the rising

:02:19. > :02:25.cost of housing to rent, and to buy. For many Londoners, the prospect of

:02:26. > :02:30.buying their own home is now simply a pipe dream. The average deposit to

:02:31. > :02:36.buy a place, not the purchase price, the average deposit to buy a place

:02:37. > :02:42.is now ?100,000. Three times the median salary of someone in inner

:02:43. > :02:47.London, and four times the salary of someone in outer London. As a

:02:48. > :02:54.result, more and more Londoners have no choice but to rent. I give way

:02:55. > :03:02.but let me make the point about renting. Rents have now reached an

:03:03. > :03:09.all-time high of ?1300 in London, and are rising year on year, rising

:03:10. > :03:13.38% since 2010. Housing benefits spent and made essentially the

:03:14. > :03:18.taxpayer making up the blunders can afford to pay and what the market is

:03:19. > :03:26.charging increase in London from a ?5.3 billion in 2010 to ?6.1 billion

:03:27. > :03:30.now. Had to be the government welfare changes, the bedroom tax,

:03:31. > :03:36.cut the tax credits, lowering the welfare, and you've got a toxic

:03:37. > :03:41.combination that is holding out many inner London buyers. Putting

:03:42. > :03:46.enormous drain on the social fabric of London, and increasing the

:03:47. > :03:50.pressure on housing, transport, and public services in many of London's

:03:51. > :03:54.out there subs. I give way to my Honorable friend. Thank you for

:03:55. > :04:02.giving way. Does he agree with the senior Tory that says that I write

:04:03. > :04:05.to buy... The conservative leader of Westminster council will speak on

:04:06. > :04:09.behalf of Londoners who care for the social fabric of our city and are

:04:10. > :04:15.worried about the... I wish more on the other side. Hear, hear! With

:04:16. > :04:20.this bill, the government has a real opportunity to start the process of

:04:21. > :04:24.solving this crisis. The front it. Is that of solutions, the government

:04:25. > :04:30.proposals will make the problems even worse. Turning first to the

:04:31. > :04:37.extension of right to buy to housing association tenants. Over recent

:04:38. > :04:42.years, there has been no replacement of affordable homes sold under the

:04:43. > :04:46.existing right to buy scheme. The Secretary of State could not dispute

:04:47. > :04:51.his own department figures which are put to him that in London since

:04:52. > :04:58.2012, only one in seven Consol homes sold had been replaced. So, how can

:04:59. > :05:02.anyone believe there'll be any different this time. There is

:05:03. > :05:07.nothing in the bill to guarantee money must be reinvested in the

:05:08. > :05:12.local area, replacing like for likes sold off homes, let us declare.

:05:13. > :05:16.Housing associations are relaxed, setting off homes in inner London

:05:17. > :05:20.and replacing them with units in cheaper parts of outer London or

:05:21. > :05:26.even further afield the. This damages London's social,

:05:27. > :05:32.accelerating the exodus of poor people out of our great city making

:05:33. > :05:38.the crisis even worse. To make matters even worse, to make matters

:05:39. > :05:42.even worse, the only way the government could fund this policy is

:05:43. > :05:48.by forcing councils to set up the most expensive Holmes. In London,

:05:49. > :05:52.this means losing substantial amounts of affordable family Holmes.

:05:53. > :05:57.Meeting, London low and middle income families are going to be

:05:58. > :05:58.squeezed out to fund the sell-out of housing association homes

:05:59. > :06:03.nationwide. So mannered deputy speaker I will be fighting with

:06:04. > :06:07.colleagues if they want to join me to retain the money from housing

:06:08. > :06:14.Association and Council property sales in London for Londoners. Hear,

:06:15. > :06:16.hear! There also needs to be provisioned for like for life

:06:17. > :06:22.replacements in the same areas as the properties are sold. Matter

:06:23. > :06:27.Deputy Speaker, the government is planning a big boost in chew gum at

:06:28. > :06:31.truly affordable homes, instead the government in the starter home

:06:32. > :06:35.baskets, and London starter homes simply want help struggling

:06:36. > :06:42.first-time buyers. Is being said, Doctor Holmes capped at a ?480, even

:06:43. > :06:48.with Easley percent deposit which by the way is ?98,000 for your deposit,

:06:49. > :06:56.you would need an income of ?77,000 to afford one. Madam Deputy Speaker,

:06:57. > :07:00.it talks about aspiration, its aspiration for Hugh, who are we

:07:01. > :07:03.talking about? This bill is a missed opportunity, it won't fix London

:07:04. > :07:06.housing prices, it would make it worse. It will not deliver

:07:07. > :07:12.affordable homes, that Londoners need to be buying or renting. It

:07:13. > :07:18.will not, Londoners desperately need, it won't read in rent rises

:07:19. > :07:21.for those in the private sector, want and the scandal of the

:07:22. > :07:25.homelessness problem in London, Madam Deputy Speaker next mayor's

:07:26. > :07:38.mayoral election is a referendum on the scab Ie capital's housing

:07:39. > :07:42.prices. Mode of the duty Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow the right

:07:43. > :07:45.honourable member in this debate, I disagree with the one of the last

:07:46. > :07:49.things he said which was that this government is putting all its eggs

:07:50. > :07:52.in the starter home baskets. With the respect Madam Deputy Speaker,

:07:53. > :07:56.know it is not. The most exciting part of this bill, one of the day to

:07:57. > :08:00.buy my Honorable friend the Member for Iceland, it is not mentioned at

:08:01. > :08:07.all by any of the six speakers in this debate or the age including the

:08:08. > :08:12.two fund. Instructed to about self build, the bill amends the self

:08:13. > :08:18.build and custom house building at 2050 which is my private member 's

:08:19. > :08:21.built which became not on the 26th of March. I have listened for

:08:22. > :08:25.several years now it is housed to debates with people from different

:08:26. > :08:32.sides have taken their parts and shouted statistics at each other. I

:08:33. > :08:37.find it very frustrating. To be honest, the system has failed our

:08:38. > :08:41.constituents for at least 30 to 40 years, if not longer. No one talks

:08:42. > :08:45.about a national chair crisis, no one talks about a national shoe

:08:46. > :08:50.service to solve the problem we have with our shoes, no one says we need

:08:51. > :08:53.a help to sit campaign funded by government so we have enough

:08:54. > :08:59.chairs, the reason is that the supply of chairs in the supply of

:09:00. > :09:03.shoes rises to meet demand. The problem for 30 or 40 years if not

:09:04. > :09:07.for longer is that supply of houses does not rise to meet demand, that

:09:08. > :09:13.is the problem that we have to sold. If you look at the land area of this

:09:14. > :09:16.country, one of it is taken up with houses the mighty add-on gardens, it

:09:17. > :09:22.is probably slightly over 2%. The actual houses are 1.2%, that is to

:09:23. > :09:25.say Madam Deputy Speaker, you could double in number of houses in this

:09:26. > :09:31.country which no one is suggesting doing, you could double the number

:09:32. > :09:36.of houses in this country and still 97.6 of the land area of this

:09:37. > :09:40.country would be taken up by not houses. Of the first six speakers

:09:41. > :09:44.from the back benches of hope for the present London constituents, one

:09:45. > :09:48.may be forgiven for thinking this was a debate about London, of course

:09:49. > :09:54.there are acute and special problems in London, no one denies that, of be

:09:55. > :09:58.65 million people who live in the United Kingdom, 57 million of them

:09:59. > :10:02.don't live in London, they also need to hear their voices heard in this

:10:03. > :10:08.debate. Now, we have many excellent things in Norfolk, I give way. He is

:10:09. > :10:11.very kind to give way, since he encouraged us were not in London to

:10:12. > :10:15.offer all voices, can I point out just as he has his problems in his

:10:16. > :10:20.parts of the country, so we Inglot us there have not a single new unit

:10:21. > :10:27.of social housing built by Gloucester city homes during the

:10:28. > :10:31.entire 13 years. That's a very disappointing to this date, it shows

:10:32. > :10:34.the problem, you either have an assumption as apparently many people

:10:35. > :10:39.opposite do that the housing has to be provided in a top-down sort of

:10:40. > :10:42.way by large housing associations as often the chief executives on

:10:43. > :10:45.bloated salaries and excessive the hundred thousand, or somehow the

:10:46. > :10:49.volume house builders will make up the difference. There is a wide-eyed

:10:50. > :10:52.astonishment among many people that volume house builders construct

:10:53. > :10:55.housing when and only when it is profitable for them to do so. Will

:10:56. > :10:59.be actually need is to break open the choice for people, break open

:11:00. > :11:03.the supply. If you want to get a piece of land and build your own

:11:04. > :11:09.house, as anyone who is a subscriber to home-builder will know, you all

:11:10. > :11:15.should be Madam Deputy Speaker, everyone should be, the fact is you

:11:16. > :11:22.can construct a very decent house indeed, that will cost nothing to

:11:23. > :11:27.heat for in the order of a ?260,000. I give way. Is my friend agree

:11:28. > :11:32.though that there are too few volume house builders, we need to have

:11:33. > :11:35.significantly more competition? There are far too few polling house

:11:36. > :11:39.builders, we actually need if we have proper joys, I don't blame

:11:40. > :11:44.volume house builders are building what is profitable for doing so and

:11:45. > :11:47.not otherwise, what they can do it is artificially fidgety supply of

:11:48. > :11:52.land, and acquisitions possibilities for others by not just buying the

:11:53. > :11:56.land, you don't even have to buy it, you just buy an option. If you pay a

:11:57. > :11:59.farmer in my constituency for thousand pounds a year for ten

:12:00. > :12:03.years, an option to buy the land you can keep it off the market. The Army

:12:04. > :12:06.can get than a half times, he is very happy, he gets the option money

:12:07. > :12:10.as well. The one thing that does not happen as a lady who e-mailed me

:12:11. > :12:13.last year when my bill was starting to go through said I have spent five

:12:14. > :12:18.years looking for a piece of land, I know further now that I was the day

:12:19. > :12:22.I started, it seems you will never be in this country as it is in

:12:23. > :12:26.Germany in the least writeup pads down that path is to get a piece of

:12:27. > :12:29.land and build your own house. This is a country where 1's with 20

:12:30. > :12:33.million more people than us and where one third of the land area is

:12:34. > :12:36.covered by forest. If you buy a piece of land in Germany, you will

:12:37. > :12:40.want to your local council, I am afraid I cannot give way, there is

:12:41. > :12:43.no more time. If you want to buy a piece of land in Germany, you go to

:12:44. > :12:48.your local council and you say I would like it piece of land piece,

:12:49. > :12:52.they say would you make a big one or would you like a small one? The

:12:53. > :12:55.small ones are sadly subsidized by the big ones which are slightly

:12:56. > :12:58.distant portion of the more expensive, there is an equilibrium

:12:59. > :13:02.between the supply of land and those who want to buy. Anyone can get a

:13:03. > :13:07.piece of land. I mentioned earlier Madam Deputy Speaker that you can

:13:08. > :13:11.construct a house for a house for 130 community land trust scheme, it

:13:12. > :13:14.is quite possible to remove the equation the actual value of the

:13:15. > :13:20.land. There are many landowners who would very happily come forward to

:13:21. > :13:23.help in rural areas such as mine in Norfolk, if they thought that the

:13:24. > :13:26.houses were going to be not for a volume house builder to build on

:13:27. > :13:29.spec and then sell. The fact that they use the word spec is

:13:30. > :13:32.extraordinary. I'm sitting next to somebody for a major house-builder

:13:33. > :13:37.and say we do not talk about spec shoes, we do talk about spec chairs,

:13:38. > :13:42.the very word spec as in speculative is pejorative. Why the you use it?

:13:43. > :13:47.Why to use it? Why aren't you since you provided one in places where

:13:48. > :13:49.people have their lives, where they can see their children, where they

:13:50. > :13:57.can see their children, would give them what do? What you can't expect?

:13:58. > :14:03.And looked at me like I was mad. It seems to me that that we need a

:14:04. > :14:06.revolution in how we do this, my secret plan, my simple plan to make

:14:07. > :14:11.this happen is to put at the centre of this equation the customer. I

:14:12. > :14:14.know it is old-fashioned, I noticed additional, it may even sound

:14:15. > :14:17.simple, it works for shoes, it works for chairs, it works for most

:14:18. > :14:22.things. What I find most exciting about this bill, there are many good

:14:23. > :14:26.measures in that help promote supply. The register of Springfield

:14:27. > :14:30.land, the reducing uncertainty in the planning process, the central

:14:31. > :14:32.bank of compulsory purchases, the speeding up of neighbourhood

:14:33. > :14:36.planning. Many of these things are welcome, the thing that is most

:14:37. > :14:39.welcome however is the chat in chapter two to make it easier for a

:14:40. > :14:45.person to get a piece of land and to build a house. I can affect

:14:46. > :14:48.everyone, he can have huge benefits for social cohesion. Can have

:14:49. > :14:54.benefits for skills, it can have benefits for the offending, it is

:14:55. > :14:57.getting young black men in 20 years ago were writing, and it's really

:14:58. > :15:00.building their own mistake in a community. Madam Deputy Speaker, we

:15:01. > :15:08.need a revolution in this country, it is discovering that is going to

:15:09. > :15:11.bring it about. Hear, hear! Madam Deputy Speaker, you think in the

:15:12. > :15:15.summer by surprise, I have elected to follow the honourable gentleman

:15:16. > :15:20.from South Norfolk, the housing as with so many other colleagues is the

:15:21. > :15:25.biggest issue in my constituency. I would like to buy my remarks and

:15:26. > :15:27.thus not part. And and I think I've been missing from the bill, and

:15:28. > :15:31.adamant of concern. First, missing from the Bill. There is nothing in

:15:32. > :15:35.the bill on the leasehold reform, the honourable minister friend has

:15:36. > :15:40.been leading the campaign on this for some considerable time. The

:15:41. > :15:45.partnership supplies a debriefing what says that there are key

:15:46. > :15:51.elements from the bill, on the fact that the government, the commission

:15:52. > :15:55.report proposing the replacement which forced sale of the big

:15:56. > :16:00.termination has been that the government since 2006. The

:16:01. > :16:04.government is aware that the delaying and stopping of the right

:16:05. > :16:08.to manage an minded technical grounds. The basic right to

:16:09. > :16:13.leasehold recognises the tenants Association has set a high level on

:16:14. > :16:18.the disputes of the trivial procedures are far from informal or

:16:19. > :16:22.inexpensive. Said in the point I want to raise which is raised by the

:16:23. > :16:25.term and Dial chairman of the committee is the briefing on

:16:26. > :16:31.electrical safety first. They say that the housing bill, the housing

:16:32. > :16:37.bill does not include anything on protecting tenants and the private

:16:38. > :16:41.rental sector caused by unchecked and faulty electrical installations.

:16:42. > :16:45.Actresses you and the sector has been left behind, other important

:16:46. > :16:50.years is as gas, carbon monoxide and smoke alarms. At a chairman of the

:16:51. > :16:54.committee said, the government has missed the opportunity to come

:16:55. > :16:57.forward with regulations to ensure that mandate 35-year electrical

:16:58. > :17:00.safety checks as part of the housing bill. Board and family is the

:17:01. > :17:05.question that I have been raising at the Minister of all register on the

:17:06. > :17:09.transfers from counsel to the housing Association and the fact

:17:10. > :17:21.that there is no reversal position the Macrovision. Did not guess to

:17:22. > :17:25.stop transfer, the tenants... There should be an opportunity at some

:17:26. > :17:33.point after five or ten years for tenants to be rebutted and to go

:17:34. > :17:37.back to the console. The second part is on elements of consent and like

:17:38. > :17:41.so many other colleagues, the question of right to buy and the

:17:42. > :17:46.proficiencies in the arrangements laid down by the belt are huge

:17:47. > :17:53.consent of. Have to say that at support Bickell principle of right

:17:54. > :17:59.to buy, as he laid out in the briefings says the ultimate aim is

:18:00. > :18:03.to be achieved within two years of sale, the default position is that

:18:04. > :18:06.associations will achieve replacement revenge three years,

:18:07. > :18:12.replaced there will be a national level and not at the local level,

:18:13. > :18:15.the idea has been raised by many colleagues. Goes on to say that

:18:16. > :18:19.local authorities required to manage the assets more efficiently with the

:18:20. > :18:29.most expensive properties is sold off and replace. It says of the

:18:30. > :18:33.high-value and, these are large family homes which when the gold,

:18:34. > :18:36.families will not be able to afford them in east London. The Government

:18:37. > :18:41.Association has argued that the extension of the right to buy should

:18:42. > :18:46.not be funded by pursing consuls to sell off their homes. Another aspect

:18:47. > :18:48.highlighted locally in the housing associations are the reports that

:18:49. > :18:56.the arbiter changed the way they work, and reports of training

:18:57. > :19:00.programmes, initiatives, anti-social behaviour, all subject to review and

:19:01. > :19:05.cancellation of reduction due to cuts in funding. Some are even

:19:06. > :19:11.changing the housing offer. For example, East homes housing, we have

:19:12. > :19:14.had to review our housing offer in light with government changes,

:19:15. > :19:20.particularly the year on year run can't which will result in a 14

:19:21. > :19:23.million annual income, taking the decision to concentrate our

:19:24. > :19:27.resources on social housing for those as well as ownership which is

:19:28. > :19:32.supported by the government and we cannot to support subsidized of the

:19:33. > :19:37.ten years, those with the greatest need should be our parity. It seems

:19:38. > :19:42.that only innocuous, it seems positive if you want to interpret it

:19:43. > :19:45.that way. Transited into English that means that key workers and

:19:46. > :19:50.carers I got to be evicted from their homes because they are no

:19:51. > :19:54.longer able to use intermediate tenures. The government I am sure it

:19:55. > :19:57.don't mean that this as their intention, people have been living

:19:58. > :20:02.in the zone for tenures to be evicted is wrong. Like the Minister

:20:03. > :20:05.tells us that is not the government intention, affordable homes for key

:20:06. > :20:14.workers is part of the plan. Hear, hear! Thank you very much Madam

:20:15. > :20:21.Deputy Speaker, my constituency is half comprised by the national Park

:20:22. > :20:25.and the national Park of much about him and pressure is forced outside

:20:26. > :20:30.of the Park with its high landscape protection rightly, and creates

:20:31. > :20:36.great pressures in the communities that fall outside. It is

:20:37. > :20:40.unsurprising that planning issues are the single biggest issue in my

:20:41. > :20:47.constituency, and reflect the tension that we as policymakers have

:20:48. > :20:53.to deal with now which is on the one hand, the national interest to build

:20:54. > :20:56.more houses, the Secretary of State identified the fall in home

:20:57. > :21:00.ownership, the lack of affordability of houses as being a serious

:21:01. > :21:07.national problem, perhaps almost pressing national problems. On the

:21:08. > :21:09.other hand, the need to protect the countryside and communities in which

:21:10. > :21:14.it is also in the national interest to do. I agreed with a great deal on

:21:15. > :21:20.my honourable friend the Member for... The difference between the

:21:21. > :21:26.countryside and shoes is that the supply of countryside was the

:21:27. > :21:29.liberty constrained. It was to prevent development, the challenge

:21:30. > :21:34.for us is to find a way to increase supply while protecting the

:21:35. > :21:38.countryside insofar as possible. Actively to my honourable friend.

:21:39. > :21:41.Are present in a row constituency, I have yet to meet anyone who does not

:21:42. > :21:44.leave any house, even any house, even in a rural area. It is not the

:21:45. > :21:47.problem that there is no relationship between the voice of

:21:48. > :21:51.people in terms of what gets built, where it gets built, what it looks

:21:52. > :21:54.like, Oracle gets the first chance of living there. If you want to

:21:55. > :21:59.change I love that you change the conversation about development and

:22:00. > :22:02.protection. I agreed my honourable friend about that, I think a lot of

:22:03. > :22:08.legitimate reasons for being concerned about development, equally

:22:09. > :22:10.there is silence group of voters, perhaps a silent majority who are

:22:11. > :22:15.those who cannot get their foot on the property ladder, those who face

:22:16. > :22:19.high rents, those for whom the dream of homeownership is a long way away.

:22:20. > :22:22.We need to ensure their interest is are presented also. There is perhaps

:22:23. > :22:26.something of a policy a policy ambivalence against the heart of

:22:27. > :22:29.government policymaking now. We started off Friday with the localism

:22:30. > :22:35.bill, the theory was that we should devolve power to a local community.

:22:36. > :22:39.Will be a better way of the house-building. There is some

:22:40. > :22:44.evidence that that policy approach works. But, more recently there have

:22:45. > :22:50.been bills which seek to take more powers to the centre as a means of

:22:51. > :22:54.driving through House buildings. I would argue that that approach will

:22:55. > :22:59.not work anymore then it worked on during the previous government. That

:23:00. > :23:03.policy ambivalence is perhaps affected in a split personality on

:23:04. > :23:10.the parts of the government. Kindly Doctor Jekyll comes to the House and

:23:11. > :23:14.says that regional strategies are to be scrapped and rightly so, but at

:23:15. > :23:21.night the Treasury doors are unlocked and Mr Hyde emerges, Mr

:23:22. > :23:25.Hyde uses the pending expected to drive up housing numbers that

:23:26. > :23:30.interference by the inspector can cause delays in the system. Prevent

:23:31. > :23:32.plants from being completed. Kindly Doctor Jekyll believes in

:23:33. > :23:40.neighbourhood planning and wants to speed up, evil Mr Hyde is allowing a

:23:41. > :23:45.system where speculative planning applications can be allowed against

:23:46. > :23:48.the wishes of local communities. Kindly Doctor Jekyll remains

:23:49. > :23:55.committed to a lead system, but Mr Hyde this bill is allowing the

:23:56. > :24:00.Secretary of State to take powers to directly from a projector projects

:24:01. > :24:02.and give position in principle in relation perhaps not just a

:24:03. > :24:07.bronchial band but other sites as well. Something over which we need

:24:08. > :24:10.clarity. I would suggest to ministers that there are four issues

:24:11. > :24:14.that we need to address if we want to encourage public support for

:24:15. > :24:18.house-building rather than see continued resistance. The first is

:24:19. > :24:22.to keep faith in the localism. Neighborhood plans have by giving

:24:23. > :24:24.people power and responsibility to determine what they do want rather

:24:25. > :24:28.than what they don't want, have actually seen people in that thing

:24:29. > :24:34.for more houses than they expected to do. Secondly, people have

:24:35. > :24:38.legitimate concerns about the provision of infrastructure to

:24:39. > :24:41.support housing, not just major infrastructure which is dealt with

:24:42. > :24:43.under this bill, but local infrastructure also. People need to

:24:44. > :24:48.be assured that there will be a adequate school places that GP

:24:49. > :24:54.waiting list will not increase, there will not be excessive amounts

:24:55. > :24:58.of traffic on their roads. Ferney, good design is I believe at the

:24:59. > :25:03.heart of building public support for housing. In that respect I strongly

:25:04. > :25:06.agree with my honourable friend, the Member for South Norfolk about the

:25:07. > :25:09.value of the bill, that wrongly suggests that people are going to be

:25:10. > :25:13.encouraged to build houses themselves, what we are talking

:25:14. > :25:17.about was opened up the market to a broader range of supplies and

:25:18. > :25:19.remembering that the national planning party framework which my

:25:20. > :25:23.right honourable friend the Secretary of State presided over

:25:24. > :25:26.exquisite he said in his foreword, my right honourable friend that

:25:27. > :25:30.there were three dimensions to that framework. The social dimension, the

:25:31. > :25:34.advent of Mac economic dimension and the environmental dimension code

:25:35. > :25:40.must not lose sight of that has been an important factor that the

:25:41. > :25:45.planning system tries to address. Family, I would argue that we need

:25:46. > :25:48.to look up more fundamental barriers in our planning system, again I find

:25:49. > :25:52.myself in agreement with my honourable friend about that. There

:25:53. > :25:59.is a view question about whether we will ever be able to build at the

:26:00. > :26:02.rate that in the Southeast that will be required if we are too lower

:26:03. > :26:05.house prices and make housing more affordable. We face serious visual

:26:06. > :26:11.and balances in this country when much of the demand for housing is

:26:12. > :26:14.being focused on areas in the South. We do need, I think to look more

:26:15. > :26:18.radically not just at the rebalancing of the economy that is

:26:19. > :26:24.needed but at the whole operation of the planning system itself to ensure

:26:25. > :26:31.that it does, now meet the needs of people and that housing

:26:32. > :26:37.Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker and it is a pleasure to follow the

:26:38. > :26:42.Honorable member and who made some good points about the flaws in this

:26:43. > :26:49.bill, where I represent has 20,000 people each on I'll wait for a

:26:50. > :26:56.house. Coming with herring accounts of homelessness and... My local

:26:57. > :27:00.council is each playing their part in delivering new homes of social

:27:01. > :27:03.rank, and I would love to be able to say to my constituents, I know you

:27:04. > :27:07.think things are bad but the government is bringing in the new

:27:08. > :27:10.law which will help to deliver more genuinely affordable homes, though

:27:11. > :27:14.it will take time you will will get better. But I cannot tell them that

:27:15. > :27:18.because the consequence of this bill is the definition of the Ford ball

:27:19. > :27:23.home and London will be a home to buy it at ?450,000, there is nothing

:27:24. > :27:28.for you in this bill if you are on a council waiting with list, sleeping

:27:29. > :27:32.on your friends sofa or rating your children up in a one-bedroom flat

:27:33. > :27:36.when you need three-bedroom. We cannot be meeting the housing

:27:37. > :27:38.aspirations of one part of our community wells deliberately

:27:39. > :27:43.ignoring the needs of another part of our community entirely. And that

:27:44. > :27:49.is what this bill does, instead of providing for a mixed housing

:27:50. > :27:53.economy, more homes at social or rent, and homes to buy, this bill

:27:54. > :27:57.will result in much-needed Council homes being sold off to pay for

:27:58. > :28:03.housing association tenants to exercise the right to buy. Most of

:28:04. > :28:06.those in the most serious housing needs and doctors, teachers and

:28:07. > :28:12.other public-sector workers will just get harder. Muck I it

:28:13. > :28:18.astonishing that this bill defines a household comprising two adults

:28:19. > :28:24.earning 20,000 pounds of old year, as high earners. All of these will

:28:25. > :28:28.be required to pay market rent on the page to state Clause. As much as

:28:29. > :28:35.durable as what they would be paying social attendance, search...

:28:36. > :28:41.Certainly not affordable in London. To build more homes across a ride

:28:42. > :28:45.range of different tenures,... Out of their homes by penalizing them

:28:46. > :28:54.for getting a pay raise. In the private renters rented sector I

:28:55. > :29:03.welcomed the measures to help tackle landlords... Jason is employed as a

:29:04. > :29:07.landlord and she is a teacher, they are facing eviction from their home

:29:08. > :29:10.because the landlord has put up their Rantoul a level they cannot

:29:11. > :29:16.afford with no warning, and though they have been good tenets for 21

:29:17. > :29:23.years, there have been served a section 21 notice which he has no

:29:24. > :29:28.reason to required them to move out. Checks on unreasonable mincing

:29:29. > :29:34.increases, there will continue to live with the day-to-day insecurity.

:29:35. > :29:39.I am very concerned indeed about the planning aspects of this bill, I am

:29:40. > :29:43.proud to spend two years working as a town planner and what I love most

:29:44. > :29:49.about profession was a vital role planning plays and brokering a space

:29:50. > :29:54.in individual interest and community need. It allows communities to be

:29:55. > :29:57.involved in planning and scrutinised detail on individual applications

:29:58. > :30:03.and ensure good design and quality and good open spaces, health centres

:30:04. > :30:09.and schools are able to support an expanding population, and good

:30:10. > :30:13.planning... Wills delivering sustainable places for the

:30:14. > :30:21.long-term. This lacks any vision at all for planning and has it as a

:30:22. > :30:26.restraint to development, for a multitude of different measures. The

:30:27. > :30:32.provision for Secretary of State calling planning positions, this

:30:33. > :30:39.bill will take planning a -- power away from local communities. Local

:30:40. > :30:47.authorities will be denied the... And negotiate for a community is

:30:48. > :30:50.facilities on affordable housing. I support neighbourhood planning but

:30:51. > :30:59.will be the point of a neighbourhood plan if that counsel has to give

:31:00. > :31:02.principal consent. This centralisation of planning will be

:31:03. > :31:05.profoundly difficult for many kind... Communities across the

:31:06. > :31:11.country and lead to more not less Calais and the planning system as

:31:12. > :31:19.local... Meeting our housing needs they should meet are planning to

:31:20. > :31:22.its... The planning system should be where we hold collectively our

:31:23. > :31:26.aspirations for our future and should be how we make sure those

:31:27. > :31:34.aspirations are delivered, this bill as presently drafted will do the

:31:35. > :31:45.opposite. It is a pleasure to follow the Honorable leader... Ladies. This

:31:46. > :31:50.is a broad and substantial bill, and I would like however to preface my

:31:51. > :31:55.remarks by strongly commending the excellent speech, real passion and

:31:56. > :31:59.knowledge my Honorable friend for south of our book, he knows what he

:32:00. > :32:06.is talking about. That is an important part of this bill, and

:32:07. > :32:10.help for tenants and sector of topics I would like to add the

:32:11. > :32:13.debate. The Secretary of State said that for a quarter of a century now

:32:14. > :32:17.that our housing markets have been dysfunctional. Year after year we

:32:18. > :32:23.have been producing roughly speaking, half the homes we need.

:32:24. > :32:28.This persistent gap in between them and in supply, is actually the root

:32:29. > :32:32.of most of the other housing issues that we debate, affordability,

:32:33. > :32:36.standards, homelessness, the rising housing benefit bill, for me the

:32:37. > :32:40.acid test of this bill and government policy as a whole rest on

:32:41. > :32:46.whether or not it will deliver a sustained increase in the supply of

:32:47. > :32:50.housing regardless of tenant. I welcome the proposals on starter

:32:51. > :32:54.homes and custom house building, but let me turn to planning reform

:32:55. > :32:59.briefly and offer one suggestion to ministers, if the planning system is

:33:00. > :33:03.to work, we need to reverse the loss of experienced planning officers and

:33:04. > :33:06.our local authorities. In some authorities, the system is grinding

:33:07. > :33:11.to a whole because the lack of planning officers able to either

:33:12. > :33:15.produce a local plan or to actually drive forward negotiations with

:33:16. > :33:19.experienced developers. That I urge that Minister in his reply to this

:33:20. > :33:24.debate to bring this planning profession and industry together to

:33:25. > :33:27.say how he is going to do that and secure a joint agreement on how we

:33:28. > :33:33.can strengthen planning departments and get the system moving. Second

:33:34. > :33:35.issue on tenets, and let me turn specifically to houses with multiple

:33:36. > :33:40.occupancy, the other measures are welcome, I welcome this focus on

:33:41. > :33:45.HMOs, many members will know that these are often calmer to properties

:33:46. > :33:48.run by the worst landlords and this is the subsector were all too often

:33:49. > :33:53.criminality and him and trafficking lurks. That is why was strong

:33:54. > :33:58.encouragement is to apply the proceeds of crime act provisions, so

:33:59. > :34:03.that the worst of the legal HMOs are seized and the property is handed

:34:04. > :34:07.over to the local housing housing authorities for legitimate homes for

:34:08. > :34:16.families. I think that is the best signal we could send to did to deter

:34:17. > :34:21.crooks. As the housing minister, I launched the build their brand fund

:34:22. > :34:26.and I did so because I believed that we needed a more professional

:34:27. > :34:30.long-term renting sector. We need to be building homes that I do the

:34:31. > :34:36.housing stock, homes that are specifically designed to provide for

:34:37. > :34:39.tenet's needs. Attracting longer-term institutional funding

:34:40. > :34:44.will need longer tenancies. Investors want to have fully

:34:45. > :34:49.occupied homes, they want satisfied customers. It is a model of renting

:34:50. > :34:52.that is common in most advanced countries, particularly American

:34:53. > :34:57.cities and here in London as my right honourable friend, the Member

:34:58. > :35:05.for Oxbridge knows, the GLA has backed bills for rent with sub

:35:06. > :35:10.supplementary planning guidance... We are seeing authorities in London,

:35:11. > :35:17.and Labour authorities intelligently use this discounted rented model and

:35:18. > :35:24.we encourage ministers to adopt the process and make sure it is adopted

:35:25. > :35:28.nationally, I am not against by to win but I think it cannibalizes

:35:29. > :35:35.existing housing stock and it has a scale now that is crowding out Homer

:35:36. > :35:37.home ownership. Is that using a long-term professional renting

:35:38. > :35:42.sector in which more homes are built to rent is the right Way ahead and I

:35:43. > :35:46.think the ministers will continue to promote the sector. Out of respect

:35:47. > :35:56.to those who have not the yet to speak I will drop my remarks to a

:35:57. > :36:04.close. Madam Deputy Speaker, can I begin by with a spirit of generosity

:36:05. > :36:08.and welcome the Bill for self build particularly. We have needed to

:36:09. > :36:14.inject some energy into the ability to buy some land and build your own

:36:15. > :36:18.home effectively, will we see the markets in Scandinavia, Australia

:36:19. > :36:22.and the states and I welcome that. Of course in an area of London with

:36:23. > :36:25.lots of houses and multiple occupations we heard from the

:36:26. > :36:29.honourable gentleman that the banning orders and regulations of

:36:30. > :36:36.some of our rogue landlords is necessary. Very sadly, I have to say

:36:37. > :36:41.that this bill is of deep concern. At this critical juncture for

:36:42. > :36:44.housing, and our country, it is frankly extraordinary that the

:36:45. > :36:49.government should propose a bill that will effectively see the

:36:50. > :36:56.decimation of social housing in this country. I believe, I genuinely

:36:57. > :37:02.believe, that there are members on the opposite benches who also

:37:03. > :37:08.believe and mixed communities. I love the idea of the London in which

:37:09. > :37:14.my father arrived in the 1950s, where he was able to buy his own

:37:15. > :37:19.home for ?6,000 in Tottenham by the May of 1960s, and where his sister

:37:20. > :37:25.who arrived with him was able to get a council house on the Croydon block

:37:26. > :37:33.of rod water farm. But also at that time we had a private rented sector,

:37:34. > :37:37.a third, a third, a third. The vast majority of Londoners moving into a

:37:38. > :37:45.hole this year are moving in in the private rented sector. Nothing in

:37:46. > :37:52.this bill really to address the huge soaring rents, 40% over two years in

:37:53. > :37:58.Richmond, 30% in Kingston, 20% in London Borough of hiring gay. All of

:37:59. > :38:04.those people struggling with their bills now average 40% of their

:38:05. > :38:07.salaries going to rent, and the government said nothing about that

:38:08. > :38:12.group. If you believe in mixed communities, then please come to

:38:13. > :38:15.this house and say something about social rents, social housing,

:38:16. > :38:24.affordable housing. Instead we have a bill that will see the reduction

:38:25. > :38:27.of that because from councils already cash strapped because this

:38:28. > :38:30.bill is coming before the spending review in which we know there will

:38:31. > :38:38.be more money taken from local authorities. The London that one

:38:39. > :38:42.will see surely, when one has a starter homes scheme of course, is

:38:43. > :38:47.starter homes scheme that will be exempt from 106, and all the

:38:48. > :38:50.infrastructure, schools, hospitals, children's centres that have took

:38:51. > :39:00.him around housing will not be there. Exempt from the community so

:39:01. > :39:03.all the infrastructure gone, what type of communities are we

:39:04. > :39:10.attempting to build here and London? It feels to that the Secretary of

:39:11. > :39:14.State has set his base on building Paris, and great inner London at the

:39:15. > :39:20.very wealthy, all of us in this chamber have assets, all of us

:39:21. > :39:25.having homes, all of us who owns a home in London and bought ten or 15

:39:26. > :39:31.years ago well over ?1 million and those without assets and those

:39:32. > :39:34.without assets are condemned to the private rented sector. White?

:39:35. > :39:40.Because these new starter homes will not help them. If you are on a

:39:41. > :39:44.living wage in London, you cannot afford a starter home on this game.

:39:45. > :39:51.What is the point of talking about a? It is a waste of time, it is a

:39:52. > :39:57.scheme for the middle-class children with 20% discount, and I might say

:39:58. > :40:01.on running for I came to this view. I supported right to bike and it is

:40:02. > :40:06.right to exercise that right, but the crisis here in London, forget

:40:07. > :40:11.one for one, we have arrived at a place where we need a moratorium on

:40:12. > :40:16.right to buy a not too extended any further, we need to address this

:40:17. > :40:24.fundamental problems of taking property paid by taxpayers out of

:40:25. > :40:28.the system, subsidized, up to ?100,000 discount. There is no other

:40:29. > :40:33.area of government policy where conservatives would support taking

:40:34. > :40:39.taxpayer's money and giving it to those who already have and taking

:40:40. > :40:44.those without. This is a shame. If Zac Goldsmith becomes the next mayor

:40:45. > :40:52.of London, alongside this bill, housing will be permanently ruined

:40:53. > :40:58.for this country. Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker. The

:40:59. > :41:02.opposition is making of this excellent bill, they are mistaken in

:41:03. > :41:06.saying that this is a national problem, I would take you to some

:41:07. > :41:11.parts of our country, some great cities where there is not a housing

:41:12. > :41:14.crisis as it is an London. There are homes to sale, according to local

:41:15. > :41:20.papers and I have no reason to doubt them for less than ?10,000, there

:41:21. > :41:25.are huge expanses of Brownfield sites available in some urban areas

:41:26. > :41:31.in city. Manchester, despite of all the excitement, it is still a third

:41:32. > :41:39.of what it was in 1931. I make this point, to show that the crisis which

:41:40. > :41:43.does affect us all is overwhelming the express in the Southeast and

:41:44. > :41:49.above all in London where it is most acute as we have heard across the

:41:50. > :41:52.chamber today. And the shortage is excruciating for those trying to

:41:53. > :41:58.rent and buy. That severing has been well articulated in the last

:41:59. > :42:02.intervention and particularly by my Honorable friend the Member for

:42:03. > :42:08.Richmond Park, it is absolutely vital as everybody has said in this

:42:09. > :42:14.debate today. That we continue with our exertions and building record

:42:15. > :42:17.numbers of new homes in London and despite the frenzy we have just

:42:18. > :42:21.heard from the party opposite, I would remind this house that it is

:42:22. > :42:27.this that has been working flat out over the last eight years to make up

:42:28. > :42:34.for the passive itty and inertia of the last Labour government. The

:42:35. > :42:39.Locust years in which they failed to build enough affordable housing, and

:42:40. > :42:44.I would remind them that if we were to have another Labour mayor which I

:42:45. > :42:52.hope we will not, the last Labour mayor at the height of the... When

:42:53. > :42:55.the public sector was flushed with cash and came absolutely no where

:42:56. > :43:00.near our record of building affordable homes, we beat him by 25%

:43:01. > :43:04.as my honourable friend are set. This year we are seeing more

:43:05. > :43:08.affordable homes being completed than any year since records began,

:43:09. > :43:17.we are compensated for that instinctive Haas David E --

:43:18. > :43:21.hostility. That is why I so warmly welcome the provisions in this bill,

:43:22. > :43:27.it is absolutely right but I want to hear the support of right to buy,

:43:28. > :43:32.and it is right that we give them the right to bite we are writing a

:43:33. > :43:36.historic injustice and I think we deserve to hear from the front bench

:43:37. > :43:40.whether they support the Labour back benches for supporting our policy of

:43:41. > :43:47.extending that right to bite, because we heard passionate defenses

:43:48. > :43:56.of it. It is right to sell off high... Members may not be aware

:43:57. > :44:04.that in London, there is already a huge stock of social housing, 33% of

:44:05. > :44:11.homes in the centre of the city are social homes of one type or another

:44:12. > :44:16.come air to 70% -- 17% in Manhattan and Paris. There are Holmes and

:44:17. > :44:21.high-value council homes that could be sold and both proceeds could be

:44:22. > :44:25.used to build more low-cost homes in London and given what I have said

:44:26. > :44:32.about the geographical location of this housing crisis, and given that

:44:33. > :44:36.it is here in the capital out we have the demands, I am grateful from

:44:37. > :44:39.what I am hearing from the government, I am grateful to the

:44:40. > :44:43.members who have spoken earlier supporting this line of argument. I

:44:44. > :44:48.think it would be the height of insanity to take those funds yielded

:44:49. > :44:51.by those counsel homes sales and spend them outside of London on the

:44:52. > :45:01.right to buy subsidy without ensuring that we get at the very

:45:02. > :45:06.least a legally binding and funded commitment for a 2-1 replacement for

:45:07. > :45:10.homes in London. I know that is what we are working on and widely

:45:11. > :45:17.supported across those benches and London and it would help us build

:45:18. > :45:23.those 50,000 homes a year. I welcome the changes to the planning rules in

:45:24. > :45:26.this bill and continue to support the London land commission and we

:45:27. > :45:32.are working flat out not to build more homes than anytime in the city

:45:33. > :45:37.since 1930s, keeping pace with... Sam planning will help us, it will

:45:38. > :45:51.give tens of thousands of people the joy and pride of ownership right

:45:52. > :46:03.there... Almost all of whom already own their own property. Thank you

:46:04. > :46:07.very much. Meanwhile... I think the smart thing that the government

:46:08. > :46:12.could do with this bill is to split the proposals into, there are so

:46:13. > :46:17.much that quite welcome the measures in the section that I could even be

:46:18. > :46:24.strengthened and that way we could go back to the drawing board with

:46:25. > :46:28.their housing proposals and with the Secretary of State to recover some

:46:29. > :46:35.of the nice guy image that the my right honourable friend referred to.

:46:36. > :46:45.That might be the way forward. By the government's on statistics,...

:46:46. > :46:48.Although looking by now there are cities, that seems like an

:46:49. > :46:55.underestimate to me. Many of us will have come across parents with young

:46:56. > :47:00.children and are by centre is living either I and hostels or

:47:01. > :47:06.inappropriate accommodations. We do have a crisis, Madam Deputy Speaker,

:47:07. > :47:11.and it is not just in London. I know that the Chancellor is not very good

:47:12. > :47:16.when it comes to recognising the impact of his policies on real

:47:17. > :47:22.people, but I urge ministers to look at the shelter analyses in the

:47:23. > :47:29.starter home lines, the family on the Chancellor is's national known

:47:30. > :47:36.living wage to only will be able afford a starter home and about 2%

:47:37. > :47:43.of local authorities and the entire country, it is not going to work.

:47:44. > :47:47.The government's definition of starter homes stretches the

:47:48. > :47:54.definition of affordable housing beyond breaking points. I do not

:47:55. > :47:57.understand the up session with selling off council and housing

:47:58. > :48:03.association properties while there is such a housing crisis. I do

:48:04. > :48:08.understand the aspiration of tenets to be homeowners, but I wonder why

:48:09. > :48:19.ministers think that aspiration does not extend to tenets in the private

:48:20. > :48:31.rented sector. I know... I welcome part two of the bill. I commend the

:48:32. > :48:37.binding order in Clause 13 on rogue landlords and repayment orders and I

:48:38. > :48:42.welcome part five with a more astringent property has for

:48:43. > :48:54.landlords and of course which offers a way forward for support action

:48:55. > :49:00.resulting and rogue landlords getting off. It is not just

:49:01. > :49:04.identifying rogue landlords but rogue developers, people who are

:49:05. > :49:09.exploiting permitted development rules, dealing with my constituency

:49:10. > :49:17.and elsewhere. Destroying the very family homes that we need and

:49:18. > :49:24.creating ugly, unsaved often, in communities that don't want them or

:49:25. > :49:30.need them. All of this is done for profits merely to extract exorbitant

:49:31. > :49:35.rates and nonexistent repairs. If the bill was strengthened to protect

:49:36. > :49:40.family homes, tackle unsafe extensions and breaches of permitted

:49:41. > :49:44.development rules than the Minister would certainly have some prospect

:49:45. > :49:51.of regaining his good guy reputation. The first part of the

:49:52. > :49:59.bill is a mass and a mistake, the second part simply does not go far

:50:00. > :50:04.not. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, I am keen to move the debate further

:50:05. > :50:09.north end with the exception of the honourable gentleman I am

:50:10. > :50:17.representing Birmingham metropolitan area, let's move it up to Leeds. The

:50:18. > :50:20.exception of the amendment and the opposition where it says the bill

:50:21. > :50:26.will not help most people struggling to buy their own home, the problem

:50:27. > :50:29.we faced in Leeds is the ineptitude of the Labour council and getting on

:50:30. > :50:35.and putting a planning policy and place and allowing the sums to be

:50:36. > :50:38.built. Us there is a demand for housing and our area, but the

:50:39. > :50:41.problem is that the council is not properly consulting with the

:50:42. > :50:44.neighbourhood plans and the people going forward, right now there is a

:50:45. > :50:48.six-week consultation period taking place and most of my constituents

:50:49. > :50:53.have no idea what is going on. Have no idea how to feed him and when

:50:54. > :50:58.they do the Labour counsellors are not interested in taking any notice

:50:59. > :51:01.of what they have to say. That is leading to a failure of the policy

:51:02. > :51:08.that gave them all the power, and put the power in the hands of local

:51:09. > :51:11.people. To turn around and say that from a politically motivated point

:51:12. > :51:16.of view, it is the fault of the government they want to build, that

:51:17. > :51:22.is absolutely a lie. There is nothing more than a lie, yes the

:51:23. > :51:26.government wants more houses to be built, and as my right honourable

:51:27. > :51:29.friend said from the dispatch box, we have managed to get over a

:51:30. > :51:33.thousand pages of planning to simplify the issue, but we the

:51:34. > :51:36.government are not telling the council is to build their property,

:51:37. > :51:41.we are trying to make it more helpful by bringing forward the

:51:42. > :51:46.Brownfield register. I want to get to this point because the Council,

:51:47. > :51:51.has said that they want to build 66,000 homes, this debate has been

:51:52. > :51:55.focused around London, which has the huge demand. That is not the demand

:51:56. > :52:04.in Leeds and the demand on the latest data showed 44,000, of which

:52:05. > :52:10.could be built on Brownfield land. My Honorable friend have spent

:52:11. > :52:14.hours, days, weeks, months are doing with the Council and inspectors

:52:15. > :52:20.about the actual demands of the city, but because the Council is

:52:21. > :52:23.putting forward the Hyatt number and are letting the developers to say

:52:24. > :52:28.that we cannot build that on Brownfield and have to build it out

:52:29. > :52:31.on green fields, because they have distributed bill land equally

:52:32. > :52:37.amongst constituencies and leaving huge of Brownfield to be

:52:38. > :52:41.underdeveloped and not touch. Said that base is ridiculous situation of

:52:42. > :52:47.where both myself and my honourable friend have to take 12 and my

:52:48. > :52:51.honourable friend have to take we do not have Brownfield lands. We do not

:52:52. > :52:56.have it, we are likely if we have some windfall land in my honourable

:52:57. > :52:59.friend has worked so hard on that because his constituency is affected

:53:00. > :53:03.more than mine and disrespect, but we do not have it. What is clear is

:53:04. > :53:24.that the companies to do is to take if you are building patches of 5000

:53:25. > :53:26.homes across a third the constituency, we stayed build them

:53:27. > :53:29.in one place, do not give best dealt by a thousand cuts. Were doubling

:53:30. > :53:31.the size of each one of the villages in the area with no infrastructure

:53:32. > :53:34.improvement because 5000 homes just than one third of my constituency,

:53:35. > :53:36.on average would mean roughly about five to 6000 children, where will

:53:37. > :53:39.they go to school? Where's the sewage going to go, where is the

:53:40. > :53:42.water going to go, how is leading to be dealt with and none of these

:53:43. > :53:45.issues are being addressed. This is giving developers to get through all

:53:46. > :53:48.of the loopholes and they we will build on that field and

:53:49. > :53:51.unfortunately until the Mac until Leeds comes up with a policy which

:53:52. > :53:58.is right and stops trying to blame the government and say we are at

:53:59. > :54:01.Labour Party and lead to our given immense powers by this government

:54:02. > :54:05.and we will use them responsibly, and we will do something properly,

:54:06. > :54:09.we will not see the volume of house building that needs to take place to

:54:10. > :54:11.assure that affordable houses are there. I give way to my Honorable

:54:12. > :54:19.friend. Does he not agree with me that this

:54:20. > :54:25.will enable us to see precisely how many sites are not going to be

:54:26. > :54:28.regenerated? Is an absolute favour for those people live in those

:54:29. > :54:32.communities will not just have to look over these derelict sites I

:54:33. > :54:36.mandate the same time destroy our valued countryside? I am grateful to

:54:37. > :54:40.my honourable friend. I think what he says there is a really powerful

:54:41. > :54:43.point. These are peoples lives that the counsellor plan with. These are

:54:44. > :54:46.people who have moved into communities who are working damn

:54:47. > :54:50.hard to pay the mortgage and develop a life that they want to be in. They

:54:51. > :54:55.do not know what is going to have to. Whether you say they want to be

:54:56. > :54:59.looking out on fields, etc and they paid for that. Is, that is an

:55:00. > :55:02.important argument. But it is also bad where are the children going to

:55:03. > :55:07.go to school? Where is the world capacity to cope with these 400

:55:08. > :55:11.houses here, or 400 houses there with no improvement was back how can

:55:12. > :55:14.you access doctors surgery? They have genuine concerns about how they

:55:15. > :55:20.can actually function in their lives. This is where I want to urge

:55:21. > :55:23.my right honourable friend today to be looking at situations in these

:55:24. > :55:28.areas and saying, we are giving you the power, we are giving you a

:55:29. > :55:31.register of Brownfield land. If you are not going to develop that we

:55:32. > :55:35.want to know why. We want to know why you have decided that all this

:55:36. > :55:39.derelict land and the centre of Leeds is going to be left to relate

:55:40. > :55:43.and you are going to go and build on virgin land outside? Whether it be

:55:44. > :55:49.Greenfield, I chose everybody, I do give way. I think my honourable

:55:50. > :55:53.friend. He's making some powerful point. It is not the case that

:55:54. > :55:58.actually developers will always go for the easy option which is

:55:59. > :56:03.Greenfield land above Brownfield land? We have to do everything we

:56:04. > :56:06.can to make sure that local councils are putting Brownfield sites first.

:56:07. > :56:10.My honourable friend is absolutely right. I know he subs with many of

:56:11. > :56:16.these issues in his constituency. Defect is that Labour Party in Leeds

:56:17. > :56:20.are allowing developers to get away with that. Allowing them to go into

:56:21. > :56:24.the most profitable landmasses there are and build in those places, often

:56:25. > :56:28.in properties which really isn't going to help. I will not give way

:56:29. > :56:31.again, I apologise to my honourable friend. Which really doesn't help

:56:32. > :56:38.the situation when you're building houses were ?250,000, ?300,000. That

:56:39. > :56:44.is not an affordable starter home in anybody's fuel. This is what is

:56:45. > :56:49.fundamental, why are we allowing the councils to get away with this? Why

:56:50. > :56:55.are we allowing them to say "we are going to leave that derelict and

:56:56. > :56:58.build on this Greenfield" stop the if you challenged anyone of your

:56:59. > :57:01.constituents, they cannot say to you whether it is green belt or

:57:02. > :57:07.Greenfield. Most people do not know the difference. It is a planning

:57:08. > :57:11.term. The fact is, it is a metal. But they were going into the city

:57:12. > :57:16.centre and seat swathes of land which is not being developed, which

:57:17. > :57:20.the Council are not even taking into consideration. Is time for the

:57:21. > :57:24.Council to get on with it, engage with local people. Look at things

:57:25. > :57:27.strategically. Actually say, there is a Brownfield register we are

:57:28. > :57:29.going to use that land. And the number of houses we need, we will

:57:30. > :57:42.get rather than an overinflated number. Hear, hear!

:57:43. > :57:51.A pleasure to follow the honourable member. I would like to politely

:57:52. > :57:54.differ with his colleague. As a member of Parliament for the

:57:55. > :57:57.constituency in the North of England where the average house price is 12

:57:58. > :58:01.times the average income. I would stave this is clearly a national

:58:02. > :58:05.problem. Of course it is buried in different ways am a but it is a

:58:06. > :58:09.national emergency and housing. Millions of people suffer on a daily

:58:10. > :58:12.basis from warehousing to the uncertainty of not knowing where

:58:13. > :58:14.they will be from one month to be next, whether they can send their

:58:15. > :58:19.children to be same school and term after the next. We have got soaring

:58:20. > :58:22.house prices, several times higher than the median earner can't afford

:58:23. > :58:25.across the country. A rental sector that sees many people spending over

:58:26. > :58:28.half their income on rent. There is a need for a government to first

:58:29. > :58:35.show that they understand this emergency and then sell the ambition

:58:36. > :58:39.to make real changes that improve peoples lives. P Bewley have before

:58:40. > :58:44.us is disappointing and unambitious at best. -- the bill. Brutal and

:58:45. > :58:48.counterproductive at worst. It does not make an attempt to tackle the

:58:49. > :58:51.housing prices or sell a signed of being written by anyone who it even

:58:52. > :58:56.understands that crisis. Instead, it is an all-out assault on social and

:58:57. > :58:59.affordable housing. At the very time when those homes are most needed.

:59:00. > :59:04.The bill seems to be driven by a narrow go dogmatic belief that

:59:05. > :59:09.homeownership is the only thing that matters when comes to housing and

:59:10. > :59:13.demonstrates an absence of the grasp of real issues facing families and

:59:14. > :59:15.housing needs in Britain. Will have long-term consequences, breaking up

:59:16. > :59:23.communities pursuing all poems which will be both damaging and

:59:24. > :59:26.irreversible. -- selling off homes. Certainly the issues are not tackled

:59:27. > :59:30.in this bill. The bill forces councils to sell off however value

:59:31. > :59:35.homes and makes no commitment to replace those sold off on the Right

:59:36. > :59:38.to Buy. Tenants allowed developers off the hook from providing

:59:39. > :59:42.affordable homes and instead direct ties starter homes, which are not

:59:43. > :59:47.affordable in the first place and certainly won't be after the first

:59:48. > :59:50.owner -- prioritise. While there are positive aspects, speeding up

:59:51. > :59:55.planning processes, the bill is most an eclectic tumble of things that

:59:56. > :59:58.missed the point before us. Access to housing is fundamental to our

:59:59. > :00:03.liberties and opportunities and hopes for the future for every

:00:04. > :00:07.person here. What we need is a positive vision for housing in this

:00:08. > :00:11.country that meets the needs that do exist. And give security to be most

:00:12. > :00:15.vulnerable. We need homes of all tenures, affordable ones that will

:00:16. > :00:18.live up to their name. We need an ambitious plan which increases

:00:19. > :00:21.home-building to present a thousand properties a year. And which is

:00:22. > :00:31.forward thinking to set us up for the low carbon future for the

:00:32. > :00:37.sustainability of our planet. ... Have ambitions to solve it. Is a

:00:38. > :00:41.vision of new garden cities to the place where communities can grow and

:00:42. > :00:45.thrive. To manage their housing stock effectively. Give them the

:00:46. > :00:48.ability to borrow what they can and build what they need. And

:00:49. > :00:51.stimulating private sector investment and housing through the

:00:52. > :00:54.creation of a housing investment bank. Supporting and sustaining

:00:55. > :00:56.rural communities to ensure that your families can't afford to

:00:57. > :01:02.continue living in the place they call home. Strengthen local

:01:03. > :01:07.communities and indeed tackle the excessive second-home ownership

:01:08. > :01:11.advantages communities and roar areas like the West Country and

:01:12. > :01:18.Cumbria. Is that this bill will cause the break-up of communities

:01:19. > :01:22.happy at phones are sold off... They will be lost to local people. The

:01:23. > :01:25.provisions of this bill will reduce the number of social and affordable

:01:26. > :01:30.homes which in turn will lead to a rise in homelessness, adding to the

:01:31. > :01:36.already huge waiting list, totalling 1.6 million people in this country.

:01:37. > :01:40.With more people in the private rented sector because there are not

:01:41. > :01:44.any affordable homes, there will be extra cost for housing benefit. The

:01:45. > :01:50.unintended consequences are expensive. Written need a radical

:01:51. > :01:55.ambitious housing policy which addresses the need answering this,

:01:56. > :02:01.not his medals communities. This bill is worse than a wasted

:02:02. > :02:04.opportunity. It will make the housing emergency worst. That is why

:02:05. > :02:09.we oppose this bill tonight and will speak up for the millions for whom

:02:10. > :02:17.this is not a political issue but a daily reality. Hear, hear!

:02:18. > :02:20.I have had a brilliant speech of 20 minutes, which will probably benefit

:02:21. > :02:26.from being condensed into four and a half. The honourable gentleman will

:02:27. > :02:31.understand that I disagree with almost all he said. Master I was on

:02:32. > :02:36.a manifesto that made a number of promises to those who wanted to own

:02:37. > :02:39.their own homes. A will no longer be that dream because of what is in

:02:40. > :02:43.this bill. That bill will start to make that dream a reality. I am

:02:44. > :02:48.pleased with the concept of starter homes. It is essential of a time

:02:49. > :02:56.when the prospect of homeownership stretches well into the 30s for so

:02:57. > :03:09.many. And 37% of households and the 25, -- 34 age cohort live in private

:03:10. > :03:13.accommodation. ... Therefore this is a central part of the bill. I

:03:14. > :03:18.wholeheartedly welcome it. Much criticism has been made of it today

:03:19. > :03:24.on two bases. The first is that in mind in London the cap is ?450,000

:03:25. > :03:30.puppy outside London, the cap is that is a cap. As the prime minister

:03:31. > :03:36.said in his answer to be Leader of the Opposition, we want to see

:03:37. > :03:42.starter homes built in London ?150,000 - ?200,000. If you look at

:03:43. > :03:46.land that is being brought back into development, the charge is that land

:03:47. > :03:50.is that a cost above development value. It is actually land that

:03:51. > :03:59.would not otherwise be used to made is surplus and that is at best

:04:00. > :04:02.questionable. Equally there is the proposition being put by the

:04:03. > :04:11.opposition that this will cancel out the building of other properties,

:04:12. > :04:17.particularly rental. I accept that 37% of affordable homes will be

:04:18. > :04:20.through section 186, but the plan being proposed for starter homes is

:04:21. > :04:24.serviced industrial. It is the sort of plan to which it would not

:04:25. > :04:28.attract section 186 in the first place. So there is the incentive for

:04:29. > :04:32.many developers to continue developing properties I'm a to

:04:33. > :04:37.develop for rent through section 186, and bring on this surplus land

:04:38. > :04:42.for starter homes. Madam Deputy Speaker, may I time briefly to some

:04:43. > :04:46.aspects of the London bill. Where my honourable friend for Richmond Park

:04:47. > :04:50.is elected to mayor next year... Hear, hear!

:04:51. > :04:54.He will have a wholly different legacy from that my honourable

:04:55. > :04:59.friend from Oxbridge inherited. The failure of housing was written large

:05:00. > :05:02.in London. It is a tribute to my honourable friend that by the time

:05:03. > :05:08.in his office, 100,000 more affordable homes would have been

:05:09. > :05:12.built. It is also clear that I applaud the announcement of the

:05:13. > :05:15.London land commission in February. I am pleased it is already in

:05:16. > :05:20.existence but before many years, the public sector has been far too slow

:05:21. > :05:23.to bring excess surplus and nonoperational land forward.

:05:24. > :05:26.Therefore, I absolutely completely value the bill's requirements for

:05:27. > :05:30.local authorities to compile and maintain average to compile and

:05:31. > :05:33.maintain average Joe Brownfield land would ask my honourable friend, the

:05:34. > :05:39.Minister, to mend do not consider some ways to work with cities. The

:05:40. > :05:45.mayor in London as a strategic role in housing. He coordinates that

:05:46. > :05:47.citywide. Surely it should be right that that may or should have a

:05:48. > :05:53.formal role to co-ordinate that requirements. Equally, I am a huge

:05:54. > :05:58.supporter of the concept and reality of the London land commission. The

:05:59. > :06:03.housing supply in London can certainly be debated by bringing

:06:04. > :06:06.that excess land into development for residential use. I also asked

:06:07. > :06:12.the Minister, consider two other small changes to be London land

:06:13. > :06:16.commission, which this bill offers the opportunity to bring in the

:06:17. > :06:20.right of first refusal for those being sold to be offered to a land

:06:21. > :06:26.commission. It also brings in the opportunity to introduce the duty to

:06:27. > :06:31.co-operate copy a duty of authorities to work with, the London

:06:32. > :06:35.land commission or indeed the Manchester land commission when it

:06:36. > :06:39.is established, to bring on that surplus land to develop houses and

:06:40. > :06:45.bring forward those houses. This, far from a sum of charges being the

:06:46. > :06:48.no home of your own bill. It is the chance to own your own bill. Hear,

:06:49. > :06:55.hear! Many say that an Englishman home is

:06:56. > :07:00.his castle. With this bill, many people in our country will will fill

:07:01. > :07:09.that aspiration. Hear, hear! It is interesting that I follow my

:07:10. > :07:17.colleagues, the MP for Wimbledon. I represent the best half... What we

:07:18. > :07:21.know is that the first time buyer, who we all suggest we support is

:07:22. > :07:28.being crowded out by many things. Not just the number of properties

:07:29. > :07:33.being built, but also bye-bye to landlord and non-UK international

:07:34. > :07:36.investment and our property market. The tracks need that to bring any

:07:37. > :07:41.chance for first Time buyers, the government needs to reassert the

:07:42. > :07:46.crucial moral and civic distinction between owning your family home and

:07:47. > :07:51.using the housing market as an investment to further your financial

:07:52. > :07:59.assets. In London, last year on international money but 28% of

:08:00. > :08:04.central London properties. Much was illegally gained and we cannot find

:08:05. > :08:10.the validity of it. But Brian property with international money --

:08:11. > :08:13.buying money, is not just something that happens and Central London.

:08:14. > :08:19.Just two years ago, a constituent e-mailed me to suggest that his

:08:20. > :08:23.doctor was looking for a property to find 32 people trying to purchase it

:08:24. > :08:25.on that morning. His daughter and her boyfriend were standing next to

:08:26. > :08:32.a representative of a Chinese bank. At couple were no way in a position

:08:33. > :08:36.to compete with that money. We have to tackle to things if we actually

:08:37. > :08:39.want first-time buyers to get any opportunity and London and the

:08:40. > :08:42.southeast. If we want more money to build more homes and everyone has

:08:43. > :08:49.agreed that they do, why not abolish tax breaks on buy to let mortgages?

:08:50. > :08:55.Why is it right for somebody who was to be an landlord to get tax breaks,

:08:56. > :08:59.but someone wanting to live in a home not to? I appreciate that the

:09:00. > :09:05.Chancellor recently announced reducing the amount of tax breaks to

:09:06. > :09:11.landlords. I also saw from the telegraph at the weekend, some of

:09:12. > :09:15.those landlords are now starting a backlash. Can I say to the Minister,

:09:16. > :09:20.hold all farm and think about more. By getting rid of tax breaks on buy

:09:21. > :09:25.to let, you could reduce ?6 billion, enough to build 100,000 new homes.

:09:26. > :09:28.Why not look at international investment in the London property

:09:29. > :09:32.market? Why not have a levy for those people who do not intend to

:09:33. > :09:38.live in their property or even let them out, but keep them empty while

:09:39. > :09:43.their value increases? That is a port in our current state. I also

:09:44. > :09:50.asked the government to look at exciting developments like the YMCA

:09:51. > :09:54.in my constituency, which the Minister attended the opening, where

:09:55. > :10:00.prefabricated properties at 55% to the area's market rent great

:10:01. > :10:02.standards and heating. Rate investment for social investors.

:10:03. > :10:09.Guaranteed a return. Providing a good way to live at ABC Noble cost

:10:10. > :10:12.and a return on those who wanted to invest -- babies in the book cost.

:10:13. > :10:19.At have worked at the coal face of housing for most of my life, when I

:10:20. > :10:23.had a proper job. I worked as a receptionist on the homeless persons

:10:24. > :10:26.unit, as a housing advisor, I argued with landlords to get temporary

:10:27. > :10:30.accommodation for homeless families. That I have to say, I have seen

:10:31. > :10:37.nothing like I am seeing at the moment. The families who are

:10:38. > :10:43.homeless when I worked were families with young children. The families I

:10:44. > :10:47.see today are children at the top of their primary school, the start of

:10:48. > :10:51.the secondary school, three and four children. And I say every week to

:10:52. > :10:55.half of the people who turned up, don't worry I'm a section 21 will

:10:56. > :10:59.expire then you will go to court, then you will get evicted, then you

:11:00. > :11:02.will tell to be on the register, it it will be fine and the Council

:11:03. > :11:08.might provide you with temporary accommodation. I constituency in

:11:09. > :11:16.southwest London, the families who become homeless get housed in Luton

:11:17. > :11:20.on the Harrow, Wembley. Their parents plead for the right to be

:11:21. > :11:24.able to continue their work. A plea for the right for their children to

:11:25. > :11:29.actually get to school. We are storing up social problems that we

:11:30. > :11:33.have never seen the like of what is happening at the moment. I plead

:11:34. > :11:36.with the government to look at it with a fresh eye on behalf of all

:11:37. > :11:42.those families and the future of those kids. Hear, hear!

:11:43. > :11:46.Thank you. It is a pleasure to follow to South London. I think it

:11:47. > :11:50.is important that the House sends a clear message out today that the

:11:51. > :11:54.housing crisis we face is not just to be seen to be prism of London, it

:11:55. > :11:58.is a crisis that faces the whole of our country. Many people will be

:11:59. > :12:02.listening to this debate today and applauding wholeheartedly the

:12:03. > :12:06.measures that the government are taking in this bill to show that

:12:07. > :12:11.they get it. They understand the scale of the problem this country

:12:12. > :12:17.faces and are doing something about it. Group Right to Buy, which will

:12:18. > :12:22.benefit up to 13,000 families in my constituency -- through. Hundreds of

:12:23. > :12:25.my constituents have already benefited from health to buy, the

:12:26. > :12:30.self build project as well. Starter homes will give thousands more the

:12:31. > :12:34.opportunity to have what we know so many people in our country want,

:12:35. > :12:37.which is a home of their own. Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make three

:12:38. > :12:45.brief points to add to this debate today. We have continued to build a

:12:46. > :12:49.high volume of new homes throughout recession because we are a great

:12:50. > :12:54.place to live. When other local authorities were not doing their

:12:55. > :12:59.part, we kept it going. In the last ten years, nearly 9000 new homes

:13:00. > :13:04.were built there. 75% of my constituents feel that perhaps

:13:05. > :13:09.enough homes are already being built in our local area, however in our

:13:10. > :13:14.emerging local plan as it currently stands, we are being asked to build

:13:15. > :13:20.850 homes a year over the period of the plant. Amounting to a total of

:13:21. > :13:25.more than 15,000 new homes of 22029. In comparison with some

:13:26. > :13:32.neighbouring authorities who we respect him a, we have considerably

:13:33. > :13:37.outperforms them when it comes to house-building. Delivering some 50

:13:38. > :13:44.new dwellings per thousand residence. Nationally, my

:13:45. > :13:48.constituency has been one of the highest levels of house-building for

:13:49. > :13:53.more than a decade. It has recently been ranked as the third fastest

:13:54. > :13:56.growing town in the UK in the last ten years. Perhaps when the Minister

:13:57. > :14:01.replies to the debate today, he can assure my residence that their views

:14:02. > :14:05.are being listened to by the local planning inspector and the previous

:14:06. > :14:13.house-building that is driving up the demand for the future can be

:14:14. > :14:21.Harper Lee understood -- properly. My second point, is that all new

:14:22. > :14:26.homes have to be the best. That we expect that those new homes, whether

:14:27. > :14:31.they are starter or any other sort, will be to the best highest quality

:14:32. > :14:35.standards. I applaud them minister for his drive in this area for

:14:36. > :14:39.setting up the design advisory panel to make sure that their exemplary

:14:40. > :14:44.designs, available for all to use. Began only get the best houses if we

:14:45. > :14:48.have the best people to build them -- we can only. I applaud the

:14:49. > :14:51.government for understanding and making sure that government

:14:52. > :14:57.apprenticeships are top priority as we move forward. We also need to

:14:58. > :15:00.make sure that we have a robust and transparent building inspection

:15:01. > :15:04.regime to major that these homes are well built and fit for purpose. The

:15:05. > :15:07.Minister and I have had many conversations about this copy he

:15:08. > :15:12.knows my strength of feeling on the matter. He knows that also the all

:15:13. > :15:16.party Parliamentary group on excellence in the build environment

:15:17. > :15:21.are holding an inquiry into the policy of new house-building. And

:15:22. > :15:27.will be with the able chairmanship of my honourable friend, be putting

:15:28. > :15:33.our thoughts forward to him when we conclude. Madam Deputy Speaker...

:15:34. > :15:37.But we have to insure happens is that we don't have any stopping and

:15:38. > :15:41.building. That is a key issue. My honourable friend is right. Why

:15:42. > :15:45.should we accept sloppy building when it comes to house-building?

:15:46. > :15:50.When if we buy something like an mobile phone, we take a sloppily

:15:51. > :15:56.made foam back to be shop and expect a full refund -- phone. The same

:15:57. > :16:02.should be applied here. The second point that I would like to raise,

:16:03. > :16:06.before I move onto that actually, what I would like to say is that I

:16:07. > :16:10.plan to make sure that I bring forward an amendment to this bill to

:16:11. > :16:14.address this important point. My amendment will address the status of

:16:15. > :16:17.building control performance standards, which are guidelines

:16:18. > :16:20.provided currently as best practice copy I believe they need to be

:16:21. > :16:23.taking forward and a much more formalized manner. The final point

:16:24. > :16:27.that I would like to raise as part of the debate today to allow others

:16:28. > :16:33.to have their contribution to this important debate, is the issue of

:16:34. > :16:37.Right to Buy in arms houses. I welcome the measure to extend Right

:16:38. > :16:41.to Buy. I have already said more than 13,000 of my constituents could

:16:42. > :16:44.benefit from this measure, it is an important measure that many of them

:16:45. > :16:49.supported at the general election. That is why it is important that was

:16:50. > :16:53.essential to our manifesto. It has been some concern to me that some of

:16:54. > :16:57.the providers of these houses, about the possibilities of these measures

:16:58. > :17:00.inadvertently drawing them into the situation where the residents might

:17:01. > :17:07.require Right to Buy in a way which was incompatible with the charitable

:17:08. > :17:11.status of arms houses. Grateful to my right honourable friend for

:17:12. > :17:15.giving way. A trust which looks after arms houses in my constituency

:17:16. > :17:19.expressed a similar concerns. As I understand, the Minister has already

:17:20. > :17:25.confirmed that arms houses will be exempt from these proposals, not to

:17:26. > :17:30.create a break-up of of it imported historic and heritage Legacy

:17:31. > :17:46.housing. The issue particularly among because, I have been written

:17:47. > :17:48.about this -- written to. I, like my honourable friend, understand that

:17:49. > :17:53.Right to Buy proposes don't affect arms houses -- proposals copied but

:17:54. > :17:58.these trust needed reassurance in this area. I hope that as part of

:17:59. > :18:04.his remarks he will be able to put these minds to rest to make sure

:18:05. > :18:09.that people see that there is a particular execution being put in

:18:10. > :18:11.place for them. And Deputy Speaker, this government understand that

:18:12. > :18:15.owning your home, I think it's simply part of the DNA of being

:18:16. > :18:20.British. It is part of the British dream. This bill, I believe, will

:18:21. > :18:26.help more people realise that dream. Hear, hear!

:18:27. > :18:30.Honourable members who have set all of the debate patiently waiting to

:18:31. > :18:35.speak, will be delighted to know that many of their colleagues,

:18:36. > :18:45.several of their colleagues, don't have the patient's which they have

:18:46. > :18:49.shelled shown -- Sean and have indicated to me that they now don't

:18:50. > :18:54.wish to speak. I will therefore, most unusually, increase the time

:18:55. > :19:03.limit for backbench speeches to six minutes. Honourable members can look

:19:04. > :19:11.on this as a bonus for the patient. The first is Mr Tristan Hunt. The

:19:12. > :19:18.age of austerity has ended. In so many ways. It is a great pleasure to

:19:19. > :19:23.follow the honourable member, who at the end of her speech spoke about

:19:24. > :19:32.owning a home as a British dream. Affect as a German immigrant, and

:19:33. > :19:35.man called Herman, who first identified English culture with a

:19:36. > :19:40.home. He wrote in 1904 "there is nothing as unique English

:19:41. > :19:43.architecture as the development of the House. No nation is more

:19:44. > :19:49.committed to its development because no nation has identified itself more

:19:50. > :19:55.than what the House. Computer thought England the only advanced

:19:56. > :20:00.country, and which most of the population still live in houses.

:20:01. > :20:03.Social and economic changes that European civilization has undergone

:20:04. > :20:08.in the past years. " He did not bank on the terrible record of the

:20:09. > :20:14.Coalition government. For under the last Labour government. Homeowning

:20:15. > :20:21.rose by 1 million. Under the Tories made has fallen by 200,000. Add to

:20:22. > :20:23.that, their rank failures on homeownership, private renting,

:20:24. > :20:30.affordable homes and housing benefit. The profligacy of this

:20:31. > :20:34.government is startling stopping with housing benefit now costing

:20:35. > :20:39.over ?24 billion per year. So I think all sides of the House with

:20:40. > :20:42.like to welcome today's bill as a way of kick-starting homeownership

:20:43. > :20:47.and clearing up the Coalition mask. But instead, we have a doctrine

:20:48. > :20:55.which will do little to solve the housing crisis. And exacerbate

:20:56. > :20:58.community relations. Let me first start on the areas of agreement. I

:20:59. > :21:02.welcome policies which extend the opportunity for people to own their

:21:03. > :21:06.own homes. I welcome measures that restrict the operation of rogue

:21:07. > :21:09.landlords and letting agents. I welcome the register of Brownfield

:21:10. > :21:14.land and I agree with the member of the South Norfolk, I think because

:21:15. > :21:16.his own self build a custom house-building I'm I have much to

:21:17. > :21:21.recommend them. And will hopefully give a boost to industry, which is

:21:22. > :21:25.too often losing market share to German competition. But I wish to

:21:26. > :21:33.focus on the extension of Right to Buy housing Association tenants. The

:21:34. > :21:40.Right to Buy was originally a Labour Party policy, debated and office and

:21:41. > :21:50.enacted by market Bacher. -- Margaret Thatcher. ... It can be a

:21:51. > :21:53.powerful tool for social mobility and aspiration. The truth is that

:21:54. > :21:57.under conservative governments, it has always been mismanaged horribly.

:21:58. > :22:04.Your placement of social homes never materialised. Between 2012 and 2015,

:22:05. > :22:08.some 32,000 homes have been sold, but in their place only three and a

:22:09. > :22:14.half social houses have been built. The government have stripped out

:22:15. > :22:17.tens of thousands of homes with no obligation or money being used to

:22:18. > :22:23.fund replacements or in the same area. That we have a plan to force

:22:24. > :22:28.councils to sell their housing stock to fund the Right to Buy policy of

:22:29. > :22:32.housing associations, a policy which both the national housing Federation

:22:33. > :22:38.and the local Government Association condemn. The sums don't add up.

:22:39. > :22:51.Expecting an auction of expensive Hausa homes to compensate -- counsel

:22:52. > :22:55.homes, funding and build two new placement homes is simply not

:22:56. > :22:59.credible. Been there is the aggressive statism. The 32 new

:23:00. > :23:04.powers handed to be Secretary of State, I thought we were entering an

:23:05. > :23:07.era of localism and devolution. Instead we have the iron fist of the

:23:08. > :23:12.Treasury, dictating to councils what they can and cannot do, demanding

:23:13. > :23:17.upfront payments from councils on the expectation of receipts and

:23:18. > :23:22.undermining the autonomy of housing associations. The issue I was to

:23:23. > :23:26.touch upon finally has the potential impact on community relations copy

:23:27. > :23:31.we live in an age of high migration. This government have promised to

:23:32. > :23:36.bring immigration down to be tens of thousands, instead we have met

:23:37. > :23:41.immigration of 200,000 a year. Government statistics show a

:23:42. > :23:43.significant and increasing number of tendencies for social homes are

:23:44. > :23:49.giving to people from outside the United Kingdom. The figure stands at

:23:50. > :23:56.well over one in ten for housing Association homes. Most of us think

:23:57. > :24:00.that properly managed migration is good for the country, but at the

:24:01. > :24:03.time when public concern is at an all-time high, we cannot ignore the

:24:04. > :24:09.sensitivities of this. The Minister of the dispatch box said that

:24:10. > :24:13.foreign nationals would have to be here longer than three years and pay

:24:14. > :24:18.tax for three years to qualify for this policy, but I don't see how

:24:19. > :24:23.that will cope with EU law. Real concerns in my constituency that a

:24:24. > :24:28.policy which entails selling off council housing, built for the

:24:29. > :24:32.workers of their, to fund a discount and social housing for those who,

:24:33. > :24:38.rightly or wrongly, are not seen as having made the same contribution to

:24:39. > :24:43.the community system is not a recipe for the community or welfare system

:24:44. > :24:46.is not a recipe for based EU referendum intensifying focus, the

:24:47. > :24:51.government must also be sensitive to the social effects of its policies.

:24:52. > :24:55.As I said in the beginning of my speech, it took a German migrant to

:24:56. > :25:01.explain to the English their love of home life. It would be a great shame

:25:02. > :25:04.if this policy allowed our proud history of cultural exchange and

:25:05. > :25:13.respect to be so unnecessarily undermined on the altar of ideology.

:25:14. > :25:19.Since becoming an MP, the most common issues raised by constituents

:25:20. > :25:23.have been about housing and planning. Many of my constituents

:25:24. > :25:27.are concerned about being not able to buy their first property but like

:25:28. > :25:34.me they are greatly encouraged by the Help to Buy scheme which has

:25:35. > :25:38.helped many families to find a home. Also the government's commitment to

:25:39. > :25:41.provide starter homes and if it says on this bill will place on planning

:25:42. > :25:47.authorities to promote their supply. Having said that, more often

:25:48. > :25:51.my constituents highlight the problems associated with planning

:25:52. > :25:56.such as the increasing pressure on local services. Amenities and local

:25:57. > :26:01.transports infrastructure. As the demand for housing increases, we

:26:02. > :26:04.will see and respond to the challenges that additional housing

:26:05. > :26:11.rings, particularly the challenge faced by our transport structure. My

:26:12. > :26:17.constituency is part of the commuter belt for Manchester and a place

:26:18. > :26:21.where people further out in Lancashire can use the local rail at

:26:22. > :26:26.the Mac railway stations for park and ride. This all adds pressure to

:26:27. > :26:33.the Mac railway stations for park and ride. This all adds pressure to

:26:34. > :26:40.local road and rail is designed and built. Investments and local

:26:41. > :26:48.infrastructure, especially with the electrification of the Manchester to

:26:49. > :26:53.Preston mine, is welcome, and we all look forward to seeing the increase

:26:54. > :26:57.capacity this upgrade will bring. But increased demand for real brings

:26:58. > :27:02.its own problems. Particularly around Daisy Hill and islands in

:27:03. > :27:08.railway stations, they are increasingly well used by commanders

:27:09. > :27:12.and there is everyday of her and his problem of parking around the

:27:13. > :27:18.stations, not just the local car parks but all but nearby roads are

:27:19. > :27:26.filled with commuter parting which is did an inconvenience to local

:27:27. > :27:32.residents. The proposals for the 85225 bypass were counseled much to

:27:33. > :27:37.the dismay of local residents. The new houses, but not the new and the

:27:38. > :27:43.structure to go with them, transport infrastructure must be introduced in

:27:44. > :27:46.tandem with development. Another example of missing transport

:27:47. > :27:55.infrastructure is the junction seven on the and 61, the locomotive is to

:27:56. > :28:00.be redeveloped with 1700 new houses and my constituents are concerned

:28:01. > :28:03.that this will put even more pressure on the road infrastructure.

:28:04. > :28:10.So we need this vital link on our local motorway. The works in my

:28:11. > :28:14.constituency are a prime example of if concerns will be listened to and

:28:15. > :28:20.on the whole local residents support its development and it is in line

:28:21. > :28:25.with government policy. Many of my constituents have contacted me that

:28:26. > :28:31.despite this, they have little confidence that concerns of health

:28:32. > :28:35.services, recreation, education, transport and decontamination of

:28:36. > :28:41.industrial land will be dealt with, adequately dealt with by the local

:28:42. > :28:46.council. Madam Deputy Speaker, I strongly welcome Clause 103 of this

:28:47. > :28:50.bill requiring local planning authorities to compile a register of

:28:51. > :28:57.land. I believe that there should be a register of sites suitable or

:28:58. > :29:03.unsuitable for use. Unsuitable for development to speed up housing,

:29:04. > :29:07.while at the same time protecting our green spaces, this information

:29:08. > :29:11.will be useful for local action groups who may want to use the

:29:12. > :29:16.information to campaign on housing developments suggested for the local

:29:17. > :29:26.area. Like many, I was disappointed on plans to build on the farm,

:29:27. > :29:33.without using the Brownfield spaces available. I am pleased this bill

:29:34. > :29:36.seeks to improve that figure, it is vital that local planning

:29:37. > :29:41.authorities make these plans to decide how best to meet the needs of

:29:42. > :29:47.local housing and publish them. So local people are not excluded from

:29:48. > :29:50.the process. A plan that system is crucial to creating sustainable

:29:51. > :29:54.development in local communities and the local community must continue to

:29:55. > :30:02.have a estate in decisions that affect them and their families.

:30:03. > :30:11.It is a birthday treat for me to speak in this debate and I also get

:30:12. > :30:18.an extra minute. As we get older, we have a tendency to look back on our

:30:19. > :30:23.childhood. I will do that. 33 years ago my mum and I were homeless. She

:30:24. > :30:29.applied for the local council in the West Midlands as a single parent

:30:30. > :30:32.with a 5 -year-old child. After a couple of weeks of staying with

:30:33. > :30:36.friends we were granted a council flat and I will never forget the

:30:37. > :30:42.security and warmth of her new home. My mum's really that we will no

:30:43. > :30:47.longer homeless. Password three decades, if we were in the same

:30:48. > :30:54.situation today, we would be put in a hostile, pet and breakfast the

:30:55. > :31:00.commendation so call or a private rented sector. Many families are in

:31:01. > :31:04.that situation, they are often uprooted from communities, support

:31:05. > :31:09.networks and school, miles away from families and friends and according

:31:10. > :31:14.to figures released by shelter, only today, only 100,000 children will be

:31:15. > :31:21.in temporary accommodation this Christmas. In the early 1980s,

:31:22. > :31:27.council properties were not in short supply. But now, across the country

:31:28. > :31:32.1.4 million families are on the waiting list. Councils often do not

:31:33. > :31:37.have the properties, or others on the waiting list, you are waiting

:31:38. > :31:42.for years. I do give way. I am grateful to her for her story

:31:43. > :31:49.because the social costs of these policies are often not aired, and I

:31:50. > :31:55.also grew up in a council flat and it was safe and secured and Sable

:31:56. > :32:00.and it enabled my sister and I to thrive and strive, and it is a real

:32:01. > :32:04.crime of the government's policy that it would denies them any of our

:32:05. > :32:09.children the very opportunities that are counsel properties gave us.

:32:10. > :32:15.Absolutely and the research shows that if a child is shunted from

:32:16. > :32:19.school to school, area to area, they are more likely not to fulfil their

:32:20. > :32:23.potential at school and to do badly later in life and it is precisely

:32:24. > :32:28.these children who are being forced around the country that are in that

:32:29. > :32:34.situation because we have this acute shortage of social housing. So why

:32:35. > :32:39.is it that we have the shortage? There is a simple answer, a failure

:32:40. > :32:43.to replace homes sold through right to buy and that failure to build

:32:44. > :32:51.social housing. I am not ideologically opposed to write to

:32:52. > :32:55.buy, I am not anti-aspiration and I am not against homeownership. I am

:32:56. > :33:01.ideologically opposed to Tory government running down the number

:33:02. > :33:05.of Council home. That is the thing that this bill and ever is to do.

:33:06. > :33:10.Since the introduction of right to die, we lost over 1.5 council homes

:33:11. > :33:14.and that takes into account some of those that have been replaced upbeat

:33:15. > :33:18.no government has found a way to fund the discount and secure the

:33:19. > :33:24.building of new homes to replace homes sold. Worse still, the Tory

:33:25. > :33:32.governments of the 1980s and 90s let our council houses fall into rack

:33:33. > :33:37.and ruin, many had kitchens, leaking windows and moldy bathroom. I am

:33:38. > :33:42.proud of the homes programme which transformed 1.3 million homes and

:33:43. > :33:48.the lives of the families and the sounds, at our time and office we

:33:49. > :33:53.built affordable home. Our government also failed to replace

:33:54. > :33:57.homes sold through right to buy. In the last Parliament the Tories spoke

:33:58. > :34:02.of reinvigorating the right to buy. But the real agenda was and I'm

:34:03. > :34:08.afraid continues to be too run down the stock of social housing. They

:34:09. > :34:13.introduce tax payer funding discounts, they've promised 1-1

:34:14. > :34:19.replacement but failed to deliver on that promise. While the lucky few

:34:20. > :34:25.get a bigger discount, the social housing stock declines and the

:34:26. > :34:28.families languish on waiting lists and the taxpayer is left to pick up

:34:29. > :34:35.the bill with the housing benefit bill going through the roof. This

:34:36. > :34:41.bill is yet another ideologically attack on social housing and

:34:42. > :34:45.improvement... Shows provisions for legislate for housing associations

:34:46. > :34:49.to sell homes and remove the requirement of developers to build a

:34:50. > :34:53.affordable home. Let's take the force to settle, in some inner-city

:34:54. > :34:59.areas this bill, that has been no doubt about it, it spells disaster

:35:00. > :35:05.for social housing and is also a slap in the face for localism. The

:35:06. > :35:11.government calls the sounds expensive, but these are not

:35:12. > :35:17.luxurious home. Date our homes in high demand area. Selling them will

:35:18. > :35:22.mean that there is no social mixing and other inner cities. And more

:35:23. > :35:27.homeless families will be forced to move miles away from their

:35:28. > :35:30.community. This ideological attack on social housing was actually

:35:31. > :35:34.rushed out during the final weeks of the election campaign and I know

:35:35. > :35:39.this well because I was the shadow housing minister at the time and in

:35:40. > :35:46.a few weeks of this Parliament asked many questions about how they wanted

:35:47. > :35:49.to fund this policy. I table the question about the estimates they

:35:50. > :35:53.had about the value of these counsel homes that they were going to force

:35:54. > :35:56.councils to sell in the number of the homes that would become baking

:35:57. > :36:01.each year and the housing minister had no clue, frankly. He admitted

:36:02. > :36:10.that he had did not know. The truth is the government does not have a

:36:11. > :36:15.proper plan to replace these homes. This government is removing the

:36:16. > :36:19.requirement for developers to build affordable homes, of course we need

:36:20. > :36:29.homes for first-time buyers but this... And this will lead to even

:36:30. > :36:30.fewer badly needed affordable home. Madam Deputy Speaker successful

:36:31. > :36:37.governments have failed to get enough homes built to meet demands

:36:38. > :36:40.and this government says they are a party of home ownership, but

:36:41. > :36:45.successive governments have failed to replace homes sold through right

:36:46. > :36:51.to buy, I support people's desire to have a security of their own home

:36:52. > :37:01.away Mustard five people will not always be able to afford to buy. I

:37:02. > :37:05.would wager that they will fail to do so in this next five years, there

:37:06. > :37:10.is nothing inspirational about running down social housings of

:37:11. > :37:14.families who need it most failed to rely on it like my mum and I did

:37:15. > :37:18.three decades ago and this ideological attack on social housing

:37:19. > :37:27.is the real agenda behind this bill and this government and that is why

:37:28. > :37:34.I will be voting against it tonight. It is a pleasure to follow the

:37:35. > :37:39.Honorable member and to measure many happy returns. I have to say that at

:37:40. > :37:44.my age I had longer to look back upon my childhood then perhaps she

:37:45. > :37:50.has, I hope so. It's who do remember looking back to my childhood was

:37:51. > :37:54.growing up in a modest home and ate ordinary London suburb and being

:37:55. > :37:59.bought by the hard work of my Labour voting shop steward, dock worker

:38:00. > :38:07.grandfather. That was about aspiration and there was no

:38:08. > :38:14.ideologically about that. I will not good way, I will give way and him

:38:15. > :38:20.moment. I acknowledge that the balance at which the Honorable

:38:21. > :38:23.member and I will not take lectures from the more ideological of her

:38:24. > :38:32.colleagues of the importance of aspiration and the value.

:38:33. > :38:36.Remembering my childhood that many members living on the counsel

:38:37. > :38:44.properties were transformed by the right to buy when it was introduced

:38:45. > :38:52.by Margaret Bacher. -- Margaret Thatcher. And aspiration for ever to

:38:53. > :38:55.be dependent and renting, that is not the aspiration of the majority

:38:56. > :38:58.of the British people. She is quite right that we all need to build more

:38:59. > :39:03.homes, governments of both sides have failed in that regard and I

:39:04. > :39:10.recognise that. The reality and the history goes like this, home

:39:11. > :39:13.ownership peaked at 71% in 2003 under the Labour government but at a

:39:14. > :39:21.time when the Labour government was largely following the policies of my

:39:22. > :39:25.right honourable friend. After 2003 as the Labour Party moved to the

:39:26. > :39:30.left and economic credibility lost home ownership declined steadily and

:39:31. > :39:37.we in the Coalition inherited the mess they left behind us and had

:39:38. > :39:41.further problems on the market. That is the true history of the matter.

:39:42. > :39:50.This bill is welcome there for boosting much-needed housings or

:39:51. > :39:57.supply. In terms of the specific parts of the bill, my honourable

:39:58. > :40:03.friends and members have all referred to the particular issue of

:40:04. > :40:06.the London housing market and I have endorsed everything to have said and

:40:07. > :40:11.I support the amendment that they will be bringing forward, London

:40:12. > :40:13.housing market is a complex one. Is it is much more than anywhere else

:40:14. > :40:24.in the country. We do have to have in mind the

:40:25. > :40:28.particular pressures on the London market because it is very much

:40:29. > :40:31.welcome placement cause that there are in the rest of the country and I

:40:32. > :40:35.get the sense that ministers understand that and that my friends

:40:36. > :40:41.will look forward to working with them in achieving an outcome that

:40:42. > :40:45.increases the total supply in London and what we call affordable housing

:40:46. > :40:49.and that is sometimes a proxy for social rent which has its place but

:40:50. > :40:54.also need to look for what is sometimes termed intermediate terms

:40:55. > :40:59.of tenure which has that middle of London which are in an employment

:41:00. > :41:04.and working hard but will never qualify for social housing. So

:41:05. > :41:14.getting a mixed rate is absolutely critical. The planning changes are

:41:15. > :41:19.welcome and I welcome other matters increasing transparency that is

:41:20. > :41:22.available by making basic financial information about planning

:41:23. > :41:27.applications available. That follows on for the work that my right

:41:28. > :41:30.honourable friend the Secretary of State government to refine and

:41:31. > :41:34.rationalize their rules on predetermination so we can have a

:41:35. > :41:39.sense of the debate about the pros and cons available to Dick

:41:40. > :41:46.communities and representatives when they make decisions and that is to

:41:47. > :41:50.be welcomed. I would like to turn to the compulsory aspects of the bill,

:41:51. > :41:57.but it is very important. Issues I would like to race there, one is I

:41:58. > :42:00.welcome the proposals to make it easier... I hope the government will

:42:01. > :42:07.look again at the issue on the rate to be paid, I appreciate that

:42:08. > :42:10.they're looking at perhaps 1-2% at above business loses its land for

:42:11. > :42:15.compulsory purchase, it is going to have to reinvest in its business

:42:16. > :42:18.again. And that means it has to go back to the bank for a loan and a

:42:19. > :42:22.level of compensation were closely aligned with the promotional rate of

:42:23. > :42:30.bank loans would be more applicable and I hope we can consider that. The

:42:31. > :42:37.other is the infrastructure projects, I understand the point

:42:38. > :42:39.that it may be useful to have housing ancillary to a housing

:42:40. > :42:45.project and a consultation project works about accommodation. Upgrades

:42:46. > :42:51.this issue that it would be perverse if as a result of the Tampa

:42:52. > :42:57.structure under the current rules land is compulsory of a wired ad use

:42:58. > :43:02.value but then it is able to build houses and sell land at the housing

:43:03. > :43:06.value and that the composer Lee acquired original landowner loses

:43:07. > :43:12.Albert land without any element of the uplift from a housing

:43:13. > :43:15.development echoes on. That seems unfair and I know my honourable and

:43:16. > :43:21.right honourable friends on the Treasury bench will think about

:43:22. > :43:24.that. I think this is a good bill and I have no hesitation in

:43:25. > :43:32.supporting it in the lobbies tonight and a commended the House. I have a

:43:33. > :43:38.number of concerns about the proposals laid out in this bill, and

:43:39. > :43:43.mainly to do with the impact on rural communities such as the one I

:43:44. > :43:46.represent. Some of this may well be unintended consequences. I will ask

:43:47. > :43:52.the Minister to look carefully at some of these issues. They aren't

:43:53. > :43:56.problems to the lack of detail in the bill and a concern about the

:43:57. > :44:01.lack of consultation and the implications of some good changes

:44:02. > :44:09.that may come about topics I would like to agree with my friend on her

:44:10. > :44:13.comments on the right to buy because I 2am principal support right to

:44:14. > :44:17.buy. But it is really important that you bring right to buy into it and

:44:18. > :44:21.it has a positive impact on the housing market instead of a negative

:44:22. > :44:26.impact and I think there is a danger that in this bill. The voluntary

:44:27. > :44:31.right to buy agreement on the national housing Federation and the

:44:32. > :44:34.government has also removed from her elementary scrutiny the press sites

:44:35. > :44:40.terms of the agreement, and that leads it to the Minister to defined

:44:41. > :44:42.wills also removing the affects of consultation with other affected

:44:43. > :44:49.parties and I am concerned about that. Housing associations of cores

:44:50. > :44:52.have been told that they will receive full compensation through a

:44:53. > :44:56.grant to make up the difference of any financial loss from right to

:44:57. > :45:01.buy. But it is also not clear whether that will be any conditions

:45:02. > :45:05.attached to this grand or how free housing associations can be to spend

:45:06. > :45:12.a grand and the way they best bank meets the local needs. Must of my

:45:13. > :45:18.consistency is rural so I am interested in that, and includes

:45:19. > :45:22.part of a national park and a particular concern of mine that the

:45:23. > :45:26.proposals in this bill do not take into account the particular

:45:27. > :45:36.challenges of delivering and retaining a next balance of tenants

:45:37. > :45:39.and rural areas. Ensuring adequate provision of social housing and

:45:40. > :45:43.affordable housing is critical, if local people are able to stay in the

:45:44. > :45:48.communities where the families live or where many have lived for

:45:49. > :45:52.generations. The cost of housing inside the national park is far

:45:53. > :45:58.higher than outside of it. Local people also strove girls to compete

:45:59. > :46:02.with verges in power of people from wealthier areas, looking to buy

:46:03. > :46:05.holiday and secondary home. The national park has recently been

:46:06. > :46:15.extended which is only can a compound this situation. The gap

:46:16. > :46:21.between earnings and house prices in rural areas, the average ratio I

:46:22. > :46:24.understand is 1-8 and many started as we discussed will simply not be

:46:25. > :46:33.affordable to people who actually need them and a local community.

:46:34. > :46:37.This is not just my view, this is the country land owners Association,

:46:38. > :46:40.they also have concerns like this and they urge that it is vital for

:46:41. > :46:52.the government does not require councils to impose and... It will

:46:53. > :46:59.not sustain rural communities. For me it is problematic the reforms in

:47:00. > :47:02.this bill focus on starter homes at the expense of delivering affordable

:47:03. > :47:07.social housing for rent. Because this will have a negative impact on

:47:08. > :47:12.the provision of affordable social homes in rural areas, I could also

:47:13. > :47:18.have the unintended consequence of wiping out affordable housing in

:47:19. > :47:23.areas like national parks. It is critical that any planning

:47:24. > :47:26.obligations provide homes that respond to action local housing

:47:27. > :47:31.needs, for example in my constituency, one of the areas that

:47:32. > :47:34.have the biggest problem is elderly people's bungalows and that is

:47:35. > :47:40.compounded by the bedroom tax because they... There is nowhere for

:47:41. > :47:45.to go for elderly people living in family home. When you look at

:47:46. > :47:50.replacing houses, the replacement should mean replacing the home that

:47:51. > :47:57.has been sold with the similar property in the same community at a

:47:58. > :48:00.similar rent. The bill needs to recognise the planning difficulties

:48:01. > :48:07.of building new properties within a national parks. A can take a long

:48:08. > :48:10.time to identify the land, and get to a planning agreement to build

:48:11. > :48:16.within national Park authorities because it is much more complex.

:48:17. > :48:20.Then what happens is because it is easier to build outside of the

:48:21. > :48:27.national park, people do not apply to build within it. If we are not

:48:28. > :48:31.careful as I said before, this affordable housing within these

:48:32. > :48:37.communities and many of our villages will disappear and those communities

:48:38. > :48:41.will change forever. And my constituency is, the housing

:48:42. > :48:45.associations are delivering social housing in a rural community. And

:48:46. > :48:52.they need the support and security to be able to do so. I also asked