Written questions by Anderson.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to increase the (a) skills and (b) capacity of planning authorities in rural areas.

Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth. The government appreciates that planning departments across the country, including in rural areas, are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery. At the Budget, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026. Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice. On 27 February, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480). On 25 February, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs. More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software. Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which was introduced on 11 March includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support the renovation of (a) village halls and (b) community centres.

Community centres and village halls are important parts of our social fabric in towns and villages across the UK. Through the English Devolution Bill, we will introduce a new Community Right to Buy to help local people acquire valued community spaces, which will help to bring them back into use and rejuvenate high streets across the country. We have also announced a further £750,000 as a 1-year extension to the £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund for 2025/2026. This will support the modernisation or improvement of village hall facilities by providing capital grants between £2000 and £75,000, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of eligible project costs. Since 2022, it has supported 142 large projects (£7,500 to £75,000) and 90 small projects (£2000 to £5000).

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to encourage developers to use design features that provide nesting facilities for endangered birds.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 22080 on 15 January 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support park home owners.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 39735 on 27 March 2025.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding her Department has provided to help support the operation of mayoral combined authorities in each of the last five years.

Details of funding provided to Mayoral Combined Authorities is published each year in annual devolution reports and can be accessed on gov.uk.

Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to support park home residents with the cost of utilities.

Park home residents on low incomes are eligible for support with their household bills. The government has extended the Household Support Fund in England until 31 March 2026 with an extra £742 million in support, with additional funding for the Devolved Governments.Park home residents are also eligible for a one-off £150 discount off electricity bills under the Warm Home Discount scheme. The payment is in addition to other payments such as the Cold Weather Payment and Winter Fuel Payment.Any park home resident who is struggling with their energy bills contracts can contact their local authority to see what support they can receive.The government’s mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently, including park home residents. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run, is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to encourage community ownership of locally valued assets at risk.

On 23 December 2024, this government announced the outcome of the Community Ownership Fund Round 4, and awarded £36.2 million to 85 projects across the UK. This represents the largest ever window of the Fund to date, both in terms of funding awarded and number of projects.The Devolution White Paper, which was published on 16 December, set out plans which demonstrate our commitment to communities and there will be further announcements relating to communities this year, including on the community ownership of assets.

Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps she is taking to help reduce the number of empty retail units on high streets in rural areas.

The Government is determined to combat the blight of vacancy on high streets. On 2nd December, new High Street Rental Auction powers came into force enabling local authorities to tackle persistent vacancy, implementation is supported by over £1 million of...

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to maximise the use of developer's contributions to improve community infrastructure in rural areas.

The government is also committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure, including in rural areas. Further details will be set out in due course.The ...

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of extending the UK Shared Prosperity Fund on (a) small business, (b) farmers and (c) community infrastructure.

The Autumn Budget announced that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), for which the previous government made no plans beyond March 2025, will be extended for 2025-26 at a reduced level of £900 million. This transitional arrangement will allow places to ...

Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to publish a private parking code of practice.

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 places a duty on the Government to prepare a code of practice containing guidance about the operation and management of private parking facilities.The Government is determined to drive up standards in the private pa...

Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on decreasing the number of properties required to trigger the flooding recovery framework.

The Flood Recovery Framework provides swift, responsive financial support packages to communities, households and businesses suffering the impacts of severe flooding with schemes from MHCLG, DBT and Defra. A review of the Framework is currently underway a...

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to respond formally to the Electoral Commission's report entitled Voter ID at the 2024 UK general election.

Yes – the Government intends to respond to the Electoral Commission’s interim report on the UK Parliamentary General Election. We understand that the Commission will publish their full report later this year, and we intend to respond to both reports toget...

Communities and Local Government, if she will include (a) shotgun licences and (b) veteran ID cards as accepted forms of voter identification in (i) general and (ii) local elections.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 1157 on 30 July 2024.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the number of empty retail units on high streets in (a) Ludlow and Bridgnorth and (b) other rural areas.

This Government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets and supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful.Through the English Devolution Bill we will introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets which will help this Government safeguard our high streets. This measure will empower local communities to reclaim and revitalise empty shops, pubs, and community spaces, helping to revamp our high streets and eliminate the blight of vacant premises.Ludlow and Bridgnorth have access to a portion of Shropshire Council's Core UKSPF allocation totalling £10,845,217 and, under the UKSPF delegated delivery model, may choose to invest in rejuvenating high streets through a number of interventions under the ‘communities and place' investment priority. As such, £95,000 of this funding has been allocated to support a community facility to support local artisan makers and producers on Bridgnorth high street which had previously stood empty.