Housing and Regeneration Bill

My Lords, I add my welcome in principle for the Bill, which has already been widely expressed by noble Lords in this debate. The Government have rightly set an ambitious housing target, and there is clearly an overwhelming case for more housing. Bishops can well recognise the social and economic pressures that are intensifying as they are well placed to witness the effects in rural and urban communities of the special difficulties for first-time buyers. Leicester, like many of our cities, has changed dramatically over the past 10 years or so through the urban regeneration process. Wherever you turn, you see new developments of flats and other high-density housing, but the experience of those developments suggests that even if we were to achieve 3 million new homes by 2020, we will not have solved many of the housing and regeneration issues that face us. Building new houses requires much more than aesthetic design value or the right location of the estate. People want more houses to be built, but they want houses in flourishing communities. The 2006 Church of England report Faithful Cities puts the question of what makes a good city, an intriguing and yet profound question that is as applicable to rural and suburban settings as it is to urban settings. Urban geographers argue that what makes a good city transcends the immediate and tangible and leads us to speak of matters such as the quality of life, the need for nurture and the need for a human face for the city. Sadly, the test of a flourishing community has not always been at the forefront of our housing and regeneration policy, so I hope that the new Homes and Communities Agency will be charged with creating communities that have strong economies, a well educated workforce, vibrant centres, a healthy population and good transport and that are cosmopolitan and inclusive, well run, sustainable and well regarded. Those are all things that the Minister mentioned when she said that she would be looking for the wow factor. I hope the Government will ensure that the HCA will have person-centred values at the heart of its culture because with strong communities like that our education, health, crime and environmental policies will all be much easier to deliver. With the creation of the HCA, government funding must be focused on the delivery of quality housing developments that provide sustainable mixed communities including affordable housing. To do that, the new body must quickly engage with local authorities to work in partnership on the delivery of regeneration projects. There is significant scope for improving the dialogue and partnership between central and local government over housing, planning and regeneration policy. The HCA must not simply be the creature of central government; it must be responsive to local needs and to the local democratic process. If we are to deliver affordable housing of high quality and sustainable homes, the planning system must assist in delivering these objectives. The situation in my home city of Leicester is that many of the regeneration sites are expensive to redevelop and it is often not possible to deliver adequate levels of affordable housing or the quality of housing that we aspire to. Of critical importance is the availability of funds to support local authorities in delivering key regeneration sites. Significant further funding will be required from government, potentially through the regional development agencies with their new strategic housing remit proposed under the Prosperous Places review. I shall comment briefly on eco-towns, which were referred to earlier in the debate. I hope that noble Lords will forgive me for using a local example to make my point. I declare an obvious interest as Bishop of Leicester. Leicestershire has been short-listed by the DCLG for the creation of such an eco-town at Pennbury on the eastern edge of the city of Leicester. It would see some 12,000 to 15,000 new homes being built. While the move towards low-carbon communities is firmly to be welcomed, there is intense concern locally, in city and county, that this proposed scheme is not the right way forward. The protests seem to amount to something much more than nimbyism. Local people feel that this will undo much of the good planning work that is already in place from recent years. The ongoing consultation period by the Government will need to see a much closer working relationship with the local authorities, taking their concerns seriously, as well as the concerns of other local and national agencies, before final decisions are made. The Government have made this a central part of their housing policy, but by centrally controlling and driving this policy through, they risk jeopardising the creation of the new houses that they and local communities want. Surely that policy could be better achieved through the local democratic process and the Government should be more prepared to trust local communities with the decision-making on where to site the new developments. As it stands, there is a significant risk that we will be creating an eco-ghetto rather than an eco-town. At the moment, no realistic transport strategy is in place for the proposed town. The Government will have to ensure that a joint transport assessment is undertaken, including consideration of a new link to the M1 or a tram line. I understand that the Department for Transport has expressed significant concerns about the proposal. The creation of so many new houses also has significant environmental implications. The Environment Agency is lobbying to ensure that any new policy has environmental impact at its heart, but from our local experience so far, it seems that the Government want to push through the eco-town policy without serious engagement with the environmental implications of such a scheme. Furthermore, at the moment, insufficient attention is being given to the creation of the infrastructure for a new community—all the ancillary services that such a town would need: the schools, GP practices, shops, libraries and even churches. There would of course need to be the personnel to run them, and the consequent long-term demands on the labour market and economy to supply them. Many of us are yet to be convinced that that part of government policy, at the heart of the thinking behind the Bill, is the right way forward. Have we fully utilised all the brownfield sites and brought back into supply the large number of vacant houses? Of course there will have to be some green belt development, but I am not sure that these new large towns are yet proven to be the way forward. Finally, I have a comment on the creation on the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords. Sadly, in an economic downturn when it is estimated that the number of repossessions will rise to about 45,000 this year, the demand for rented accommodation will rise, and, with it, the possibility for unscrupulous landlords to take advantage of vulnerable people. The Government's proposal to regulate private and social landlords is therefore to be welcomed, promoting, as it should, stronger social inclusion, stronger neighbourhoods and the wider well-being of many in our society. We are at a time of unprecedented demand for housing, yet we face significant economic threats. The Bill provides the framework for the next generation of housing and regeneration policy. We now need the Government to be open to the detailed scrutiny that your Lordships will give to the Bill, especially provision to create strong, vibrant communities that will enrich the lives of the people who live in them.