Speeches by Curtis.

“11. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to demonstrate leadership on climate change.”

“As my right hon. Friend was speaking, the water levels on the River Ouse continued to rise, which means that tonight my constituents in Newport Pagnell are once again bracing themselves and preparing their homes, businesses and farms for the second flooding incident in just a few weeks. Will my right hon. Friend join m…”

“I have two very quick questions on that. First, will local authorities get a veto on a new town in their local area? Secondly, how will that sit alongside the housing target that has been come up with under the new formula?”

“Will you be looking to take forward most of them?”

“There are two things happening at the same time here. The first is that we are rolling out far more devolution. As we roll out far more devolution, unlike the devolution that has already happened, we will find that the boundaries for the devolution deals do not match up with the boundaries for the strategic planning th…”

““We have someone else to blame.””

“At some point in the next eight months the New Towns Taskforce is going to come back with recommendations. What happens next?”

“There are three points on this. First, are you expecting to be taking forward all of the sites that they recommend and coming up with a plan in order to deliver that?”

“I know that there is this extra money going in, but I speak to local authorities that tell me that their baseline is to cut their planning department this year because of the pressures that are put on local authorities. Are you effectively just filling a gap that is otherwise being cut and not necessarily increasing ca…”

“Will that money be earmarked for the planning team? They cannot use that to cross-subsidise other bits of local government funding?”

“We know that the number of planners and local authorities is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the entire system and in the British economy. I have spoken to big businesses. One international supermarket chain told me that for every £5 it has earmarked to invest in the UK, it is handing £1 back to its international par…”

“What upcoming Government Bills are likely to include planning reform, and when can we expect them to be published? Alongside that, when can we expect a Government response to the NPPF consultation?”

“Finally on this point, does the Department have a view about what is on the table in terms of a delivery mechanism for those new towns? And how do you see that being funded? Have you had conversations with the Treasury about the funding of those delivery mechanisms?”

“Chris Curtis, the Labour MP for Milton Keynes North.”

“Very quickly on that point, it seems like you are saying, correctly, that the lack of local plan coverage causes speculative development. As far as I can see, the biggest stick that we have with which to beat local areas that are not going to put in place local plans because of the political pressure that you just ment…”

“In the spirit of cross-party working, would the Minister like to take this opportunity to thank the previous Conservative Government for starting negotiations on this important matter? They realised then, even if they do not realise it now, its importance to our country’s national security.”

“You are saying we need prevention.”

“You do find that you struggle to get by funding-wise in terms of the healthcare service and those other—”

“I want to start with an open-ended question: is the current level of funding local authorities receive to tackle rough sleeping adequate? I suspect I know the answer to this one.”

“Could I go to Ben now? You have about £200,000 from the rough sleeping winter pressures funding for this year. Can you give us an idea about what a lump sum like that is going to pay for and what material difference it is going to make in your area?”