Speeches by Chowns.

“I honestly do not entirely follow the Minister’s argument about this measure potentially replacing the work of local authorities in driving development plans, because that is specifically what the new clause is about. It is about putting more power in the hands of local authorities rather than in the hands of the devel…”

“New clause 1 was tabled by the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff), and I remind colleagues that I am the Member for North Herefordshire—always a cause for confusion. I will also speak to six other new clauses, three of which are intended to dissuade developers from engaging in land banking, and …”

“I thank the hon. Member for his point, which is actually exactly the same point that the hon. Member for Barking made, essentially—”

“I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 91 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 92 New powers to appoint an inspector Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.”

“At the cost of social housing.”

“The hon. Member has issued a paean to Help to Buy, which at the time it was introduced was identified as a policy that would likely drive up housing prices and do nothing to address the real problems in the housing market. As I have repeatedly emphasised in this Committee, those problems relate particularly to affordab…”

“Yes—both singing from the same hymn sheet on this. I refer the hon. Member for Broxbourne to the answer that I gave two minutes ago to those comments: I am not saying that just setting a target for social and affordable housing will magic it up, and I am not denying that multiple factors impact on the delivery. In fact…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I rise to speak to amendment 2. Before I do, I would like to welcome the tone in which the Minister has presented the clauses in this part of the Bill. I recognise and understand the intention to clarify the CPO process and enable it to work better, and I part…”

“I am pleased to clarify that no, that is not my proposal, nor is it what the new clause says. It simply states: “Any national or local plan or strategy which relates to the building or development of housing must include specific quotas for the provision of— (a) affordable housing, and (b) social housing.” The elaborat…”

“I was not speaking at the moment of the point of order—the Minister was. I confess have been slightly thrown by the intervention from the hon. Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, but I think that at the time of the point of order, the Minister was intervening on my summing-up speech, which was about pushing new c…”

“I warmly welcome the new clause tabled by the hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington. I refer colleagues to the fact that I have proposed a private Member’s Bill on exactly this topic—the Carbon Emissions from Buildings (Net Zero) Bill—and my very first Westminster Hall debate was on environmental building standards, s…”

“I thank the Minister for his comments. I will briefly pick up on a couple of the issues he mentioned. On housing for older people, and new clause 92, I welcome the Government’s recognition that this is a serious issue, and that there are real benefits to enabling greater provision of housing for older members of the co…”

“In fairness, I did not draft the new clause. I recognise that it says six months, but as the hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington spoke about so eloquently, we had proposals for net zero carbon building standards on the table 10 years ago. This has been in development for 20 years. The sector itself is way ahead of G…”

“My point is brief: given that the Government have a limited amount of money available, should it not be spent on the things that are most effective in tackling the reality of the housing crisis? It is clear that Help to Buy was not that.”

“I beg to move amendment 2, in clause 91, page 131, line 17, at end insert— “(za) after subsection (1) insert— ‘(1A) Subsection (2) also applies if an acquiring authority submits a compulsory purchase order in relation to furthering the purposes of delivering housing targets set out in a local plan.’” This amendment wou…”

“Mary, would you agree with that?”

“Mary, how will the withdrawal of the Flood Re reinsurance scheme in 2039 impact people’s ability to access property resilience measures?”

“Siobhan and Graham, what role should local authorities specifically play in supporting flood resilience? How could they better incentivise that resilience action?”

“Graham, have there been times when it was not clear which agency was responsible for dealing with flooding or issuing warnings or whatever, or when you received conflicting advice from different organisations? How navigable, basically, is the ecosystem of organisations in this?”

“Siobhan, do you want to follow up on that? From my own experience in Herefordshire, I know exactly the situation. There is a real issue with meeting the threshold of a certain number of households being affected before support mechanisms from central Government can kick in to support local government to support affecte…”