§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many houses have been built under plans for the development of the(a) Milton keynes, (b) Ashford and (c) Stansted Corridor Sustainable Communities; how many are social housing; how many houses will be built and how will be social housing. [148204]
§ Yvette CooperThe Sustainable Communities plan was published in February 2003. The most recent annual housebuilding figures for the districts contained within the house growth areas are for the year to September 2003.
Growth New build housing completions year to September 2003
Milton Keynes south Midlands 6,622 London Stansted Cambridge 4974 Ashford 678 It should be noted that these figures are for new build only and do not include net additions to the housing stock derived from conversions and change of use less demolitions. Full net additions data for 2003–04 will be available in October 2004.
Plans are at a different stage in each of the three growth areas. In Milton Keynes South Midlands, regional partners published a draft Sub Regional Strategy on 18 July 2003. This sets out plans for around 133,400 homes in the period 2001–16. These plans will be subject to examination in public and the 1471W consideration of the Secretary of State before incorporation into Regional Planning Guidance. Similarly, in July 2003, the South East England Regional Assembly published their proposed alterations to Regional Planning Guidance for Ashford, including a total of 13,100 homes in the period 2001–16. An examination in public was held in December 2003, and the panel is due to report in February 2004.
In London Stansted Cambridge, plans for the growth area are being considered as part of the development of RPG14 for the East of England, and the London Plan, and its Sub Regional Development Frameworks. A first draft of RPG14 is expected to be produced by the East of England Regional Assembly in February 2004.
The Government does not set annual targets centrally for local authorities on either affordable or social housing. Planning policies for affordable housing are set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3, "Housing", and in Circular 6/98, "Planning for Affordable Housing". They advise that where local planning authorities are able to demonstrate a lack of affordable housing to meet local needs, based on up-to-date surveys and other data, they should indicate in their local plan how many affordable homes need to be provided throughout the plan area, and set indicative targets for specific suitable sites (expressed either as numbers of homes or a percentage of the homes on the site). Local planning authorities should be monitoring their performance against their local plan policies and targets, but this information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.