URGENT: write to your local MP re: Housing and Planning Bill

[Mark Brown]

Source:
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/ministers-again-reject-lords-housing-bill-changes/7015120.article
 

After the government rejected the 13 House of Lords amendments to the Planning
and Housing Bill on Tuesday 3rd May, on Wednesday 4th May, the House of Lords
voted for amendments giving councils more freedom over whether or not to build
Starter Homes instead of other forms of affordable housing, and allow them to
keep cash from sales to build replacements.
 
In response, the government published further amendments which would reject
these proposals.

MPs will vote on the government’s rejection of the amendments on Monday 9th
(tomorrow). As the bill is being put forward under ‘English votes for English
Laws’ rules, the Conservatives have a healthy majority of more than 100.

The amendments, tabled by communities secretary Greg Clarke, also overturn
amendments to force developers to include sustainable drainage systems in new
developments.

Should the House of Commons vote to reject the Lords’ amendments, the bill will
return to the Lord’s in a process known as ‘ping-pong’. 

However, the government has partially climbed down on two other defeats –
accepting the need for a review on carbon efficiency standards and the right of
neighbourhood groups to appeal planning decisions.

The government wants the bill to pass in time to be included in the Queen’s
Speech on 18 May.  

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Email letter to send immediately to your constituency MP by tomorrow (Monday
9th), preferably no later than midday:

Dear __________ MP
As one of your constituents I am writing to ask you to oppose the Housing and
Planning Bill.

This Bill, if passed, will undoubtedly make the national housing crisis worse.
At a time of acute shortages of truly affordable housing this Bill will lead to
the loss of more social housing through the extension of right-to-buy to housing
association tenants and the compulsory sale of ‘high-value’ council housing. It
will replace affordable rented homes in new developments with starter homes that
will be unaffordable (up to £450,000 in London).

This Bill will do nothing to help tenants struggling in expensive, insecure,
unregulated private rental properties – but instead will force these conditions
onto social tenants who will see their secure tenancies abolished and their
rents raised through pay-to-stay.

The planning elements of the Bill will also enable more widespread demolitions
of affordable social housing estates and reduce democratic local control of
planning decisions.

I am still extremely worried about the overall impact of this Bill. The existing
and future Social Housing stock will shrink under these plans because there will
be no statutory obligation on housing associations to provide like-for-like
quantitative replacement social housing in regard to right-to buy purchases of
social housing by housing association tenants, so reducing the total stock of
social housing. The Chartered Institute for Housing say that with the
implementation of these plans, the UK total social housing stock reduce by a
massive 370,000 by the year 2020.

The long term trend of the shrinking social housing base and transfer of
rentiers into the private sector rental market has increased the housing benefit
bill, which has risen by £650 million a year since 2009-10 (for 2013/14 it was
£24.6 billion and is expected to reach £27 billion by 2018/19). Under these
changes, the housing benefit bill will doubtless accelerate However, at this
late stage, I call on you to vote to approve Lords amendments giving councils
more freedom over whether or not to build Starter Homes instead of other forms
of affordable housing, and allow them to keep cash from sales to build
replacements.
 
I hope that you will speak out and vote against this Bill when it returns to
Parliament again today. 
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind regards,
_______________________
(Name, and give full address to confirm you are a constituent)


You can find your local MP email address on this link:
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
You can search for Lords to contact using this link:
https://www.writetothem.com/lords
Even MPs who oppose this Bill will be able to use letters from constituents as
proof of widespread opposition, and you can add personal information about how
the Bill will affect you that MPs can use when speaking on the Bill, so it is
still well worth writing to them.