Contribution
I commend my hon. Friend for his hard work on transforming our heritage buildings. Many of those buildings are owned by private landlords who neglect them and they are an eyesore in our towns.
Indeed, in Longton we have had several fires in buildings that have not been properly maintained. While I welcome the high street rental auctions, many of those buildings are not fit for use in their current state. I understand that councils have several powers to take ownership of derelict buildings on our high streets, but I am told that the funds required and the time it takes to hold property owners to account is often prohibitive. I ask the Minister, what additional powers and resources can we give to local authorities to address empty and derelict properties in town centres, hold property owners to account and repossess empty town centre buildings if needed?
I acknowledge, though, that reutilising inner urban areas may not meet the full demand for housing and that such areas may not always be accessible for our ageing population. We need large developments in some places, but the new designation of grey-belt land has caused confusion. To many of my constituents, the area in the Lightwood proposal is not grey-belt land; it is the countryside. While much of the land is agricultural, it is a rich area with newts, bats and badgers. In redesignating the land as grey belt, I ask the Minister for greater clarification on the meaning of green and grey-belt land, and whether that extends to areas that have agricultural-grade land and minimal built spaces.
In such cases, we must consider the delivery of suitable infrastructure, and if a community must be enlarged, we can offer benefits that improve the lives of everyone in the area. For example, in Yarnfield, which has several proposed sites in the local plan, villagers have been in a long battle to gain ownership of their local pub. The owners, Stonegate, seem to prefer to keep a decaying building up for sale rather than allow the village to revive it. I would greatly appreciate an update on the status of the community right to buy, which was announced in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, and further clarification as to how it can support my constituents in Yarnfield.
We must not allow communities to lose their heart and soul. Big developments must not be swathes of housing estates; they must be communities with the right social infrastructure, including pubs, shops and public services. The Home Builders Federation estimates that local authorities in England and Wales held more than £6 billion in unspent section 106 moneys and nearly £2 billion from the community infrastructure levy in 2024. It also estimates that over £800 million provided by developers for affordable housing is held in local authority bank accounts. That is unacceptable when so many constituents are fighting for the correct infrastructure for their communities, yet the money is available. I therefore ask the Minister how we can ensure that section 106 moneys are utilised in a timely and local manner.
We must ensure that councils are sufficiently resourced to carry out enforcement against developers not meeting their required duties. My constituent, Dennis Rothwell, has fought a constant battle against dust pollution from nearby development in Trentham Fields, and residents in Broadway have been reduced to tears of frustration at noise and dust. However, councils cannot hold developers to account without sufficient resource. There is a national shortage of planning enforcement officers, and that needs urgent attention.
In addition, although councils have a statutory duty to investigate breaches of planning law, there is no statutory duty to enforce against breaches. I suggest considering a process similar to the decriminalisation of parking enforcement to ensure that there is an impetus for councils to act on planning breaches. In so doing, council sanctions would accrue money that could then be repurposed for our communities. I ask the Minister to consider the merits of introducing statutory ringfenced funding at the local authority level to pay for planning enforcement and a refreshed approach to planning enforcement.
Developers must also be held to account when building affordable and accessible houses, but that must not come at the cost of quality infrastructure, green spaces and community character. Building is not just about meeting metrics; it is about delivering real improvements to new and existing residents and invoking a sense of civic pride with good-quality and diverse homes in good-quality communities.