Speeches by Cooper.

“I rise to present a petition on behalf of residents of Mid Cheshire pertaining to unadopted estates in my constituency. Around 4,700 households—equivalent to more than 12% of all properties across Northwich, Middlewich and Winsford—are on new build estates where basic infrastructure such as roads, drains and sewers rem…”

“My questions are all going to be about the accessibility of new build homes, which for the benefit of the audience at home and those who are watching are covered by part M of the building regulations, under which category 1 is visitable dwellings, category 2 is accessible and adaptable dwellings and category 3 is wheel…”

“As I say, M4(3) covers wheelchair user dwellings; what is the rationale for not proposing a national minimum standard for that?”

“That’s fine. In terms of what you could put in that letter to inform me, I wanted to understand how the database will operate. Is it a national system that landlords will be able to access through a common portal and register all their properties on? Will local authorities have access?”

“If not, would the Planning Inspectorate reject its local plan?”

“In the north-east and east midlands, 4% are accessible, whereas in London it is 23%. Is it your expectation that local areas will look at how many properties they currently have that are compliant with M4(2) and set a standard accordingly?”

“I am interested in whether local authorities will be able to see only the properties in their area or properties owned by a landlord in adjacent areas. I am thinking of London in particular, where you have quite a small geography close together. If I were in Camden, could I see a private landlord in Islington? I might …”

“As part of that would you expect the local authority—or indeed have you as a Department done some analysis—to look at age demographics and which areas are likely to have a greater requirement for more accessible homes in future? Would you be expecting local authorities to be citing that kind of evidence when they produ…”

“By having something that is not measured in that way, or not having any kind of minimum standard at all, is there a risk that it is therefore not seen as a priority by local authorities when they are producing their local plans, and we end up with an undersupply of wheelchair user properties as a result?”

“On the private rented sector database, I will declare up front that I spent about 20 years designing systems like this. But I no longer do so; I do this now. For the avoidance of doubt, will the system be hosted and owned by MHCLG and local authorities will have access to it? Is that how you are operating it?”

“I am the Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.”

“Those are future adaptations the Government will have to pay for.”

“Would you expect the Planning Inspectorate to be looking for the local authority to demonstrate that it has made that assessment of how many homes it has that are accessible?”

“rose—”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. As we have heard, the ceramics industry is a vital part of Britain’s manufacturing heritage and economic future. It supports thousands of skilled jobs, sustains local communities, strengthens domestic supply chains and contributes significantly to our economy…”

“Trust in politics is at an all-time low, and part of the reason is that our society is littered with examples of structural unfairness, injustice, and ordinary people being ever so slightly fleeced. The housing market of recent years is a strong case in point, with multiplying ground rents, abuse of the forfeiture syst…”

“I thank the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby (Sarah Pochin) for securing this important debate. I will spare hon. Members the parts of my speech about the importance of FE—I am sure we all agree that it is very important. Instead, I will talk to the Minister about the lasting impact on further education in my constit…”

“On the point about estate adoption, I wonder whether my hon. Friend agrees that we need to get on and implement section 42 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which would require sewerage to be adopted as part of the public sewer as soon as possible.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for leading this important debate and setting out the argument so clearly. I welcome the petition upon which the debate is predicated, and I recognise the calls from the petit…”

“You were at the Audit Commission earlier in your career as a director and district auditor.”