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Written question asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Andrews (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 April 2006.

Housing: Rural Areas

Question
What representations they have received from parish councils, district councils and the private sector on the removal of the 80 per cent. restriction from registered social landlords who specialise in providing affordable homes in smaller rural settlements, in particular the Rural Housing Trust; and whether most of these bodies support the changes.
Answer

I refer the noble Baroness to my answer of 22 March to the noble Lord, Lord Carter, (col. 238). We will continue to allow housing associations to restrict staircasing on rural exception sites where appropriate. The Government have received 89 representations from parish councils, district councils and the private sector, including the Rural Housing Trust, on the issue of allowing purchasers under the HomeBuy scheme to increase their equity stake to 100 per cent. Details are set out in the table below. This is in addition to the 131 respondents who responded to the question on whether staircasing should be restricted in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s consultation document HomeBuy—expanding the opportunity to own published in April 2005. The majority of respondents, including the Rural Housing Trust, supported restrictions in rural areas but a significant minority identified some potential legal and other difficulties with this approach.

Representation made to Her Majesty’s Government since the Government published our response to the HomeBuy consultation in September 2005.
Restrictions to apply
Public Sector
Borough Councils 4
District Councils 9
Parish Councils 17
Town Councils 6
(Rural) ““Community Councils”” 5
Private Sector
Housing Associations/Rural Housing Trusts 22
Individuals / Groups 23
Rural Community Groups 3
Totals 89

Breakdown of responses to Q.10 in the HomeBuy Consultation Paper—““Do you think there would be circumstances in which ‘staircasing-up’ should be restricted? If so, in what circumstances might this be desirable?”” The following table gives details of the responses received suggesting that restrictions on staircasing should/should not apply in small rural areas.

Restrictions to apply Restrictions not to apply
Borough Councils 4 3
County Councils 1
District Councils 26 2
Metropolitan Borough    Councils 1 2
Regional Councils 1
Regional Assemblies 1
Unitary Authorities 4 1
(Rural) Community    Councils 5
Private Sector
Housing Associations 30 26
Individuals/Groups 11 6
Rural Community    Groups
Rural Advocate for Rural    Communities 1
Totals 85 40
68% 32%

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
4514; 680 c180-2WA
Session
2005-06
Related items
Housing: Shared Ownership
Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Oral questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Housing Rural areas Shared ownership schemes Homebuy scheme
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk