Speeches by Woodcock.

“At the start of the session, it was suggested that the majority of issues with service charges were linked to high-rise blocks in cities. As somebody who represents a town where the number of high-rise blocks is in single figures, I get quite a lot of complaints about service charges. They are linked to what has been t…”

“I am Labour MP for Banbury.”

“I thank my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller), for securing this urgent question. The River Cherwell runs right through the heart of Banbury, so this issue and the images and footage from the weekend have concerned a number of my residents as well. Can the Minister reassur…”

“On that one you are confident.”

“I should declare that part of one of the 12 new towns is in my constituency, Heyford. It is one of the 12 but not one of the three indicated as favourites. My question is on the status of the other nine, particularly as there will be people who may be disappointed not to be one of the three or anxious as to what this m…”

“The last one from me is on the new national development management policies. Will they be on a statutory or non-statutory footing? Have you decided on that yet?”

“Secretary of State, you mentioned the default yes to planning applications near railway stations. When the Chancellor announced that, were you made aware of it beforehand?”

“Are you prepared to give a timeline on that?”

“On planning, in March Minister Pennycook announced a consultation on statutory consultees that will be coming in the spring, but it has not yet been published. Could you explain?”

“If I may, school places and things like that are welcome, but some of the homes that are being demanded of local authorities in rural areas will not come forward without very quick and direct investment in the national grid and how water gets supplied to them. What conversations is your Department having with DESNZ and…”

“Secretary of State, you mentioned housing targets, the Government bringing them back and changes to the NPPF. As a consequence of that, there has been an uplift in the number of homes that many councils have been required to bring forward through their local plans. As Secretary of State, you will also know that a big c…”

“I am Sean Woodcock, Member of Parliament for Banbury.”

“I will go back to what my formal question was. If you want to come in quickly on that after I have asked it, feel free. Ben, you told us that half of all inspections carried out under the housing health and safety rating system between 2021 and 2023 were conducted by only 20 local authorities. We heard evidence earlier…”

“Solving the court backlogs would at least improve confidence, among other things.”

“I am Sean Woodcock, MP for Banbury.”

“We have heard some talk about section 21s, as in no-fault evictions, which have been scrapped by the Bill. We know that, in the last few years, local authorities have had a rush of people put into temporary accommodation because of landlords using section 21s. I just wonder whether part of the reason that landlords hav…”

“Ben, I want to come back to what you said. You said that you did not want to scaremonger, and then you talked about the threat of rent controls. Could you clarify where that has come from, because I am not aware of rent control being Government policy.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. The hon. Lady makes a point about the importance of neighbourhood plans, and I have had parish councils contact me about this. As the Minister just said, it is about priorities. If the Liberal Democrats are serious about the Government funding local council…”

“Briefly, I want to put on the record how much I value the protection of sporting assets. I have already mentioned Chipping Norton in my constituency, and how the football club there lost its land to a rather unscrupulous developer the best part of a decade ago and ever since has not been able to play in the town itself…”

“The hon. Gentleman rightly praises the role of local newspapers. I have some brilliant ones in my constituency, including one that goes out in Chipping Norton and hence is called Chippy News. It is produced by volunteers and does a lot of the things that the hon. Gentleman talked about. However, he mentioned the dimini…”