Speeches by Chowns.

“I thank all those who have contributed and the Minister for his very thoughtful responses. On new clause 1, I note the Minister’s assurances that existing mechanisms will be going some way, at least, to addressing the concerns I have raised about build-out, so I will not push it to a vote at this point. I will not push…”

“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…”

“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…”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“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…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his genuine question. He highlights a case that arguably represents complexities that the Government employ lots of lawyers to fix. I do not think it would prevent a new clause such as this from progressing. The intention is to prevent land banking, and if lawyers need to tweak the langua…”

“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…”

“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.”

“At the cost of social housing.”

“I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.”

“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…”

“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 rise to speak in support of new clause 7. I have spoken about flooding in the main Chamber at least five times. Constituents have come to see me in my surgeries to tell me that they have been flooded out of their new homes only six months after they were built, because of a lack of appropriate drainage. As climate ch…”

“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 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.”

“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…”

“I will move on to a set of questions around flood warnings. We have been talking about resilience measures. Siobhan, how effective is communication around flooding and early warning systems in your area in Shrewsbury?”

“Patterns of flooding are changing, and we need to update our systems too.”

“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?”