Extract from
Environment,Food and Rural Affairs questions
(Cheadle) (Con): The
Greater Manchester Combined Authority is in the process of
producing a clean air plan for the region to reduce harmful
emissions. The Mayor, who has previously ruled out a congestion
charge, is now apparently considering a charge on older cars, as
well as taxis and vans, which is clearly a concern for small
businesses in my area that may be impacted by it. Will my hon.
Friend outline whether any funding could be made available from
central Government for the retrofitting of non-compliant vehicles
so that small businesses in Cheadle will not be penalised should
the Mayor press ahead with those plans?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey):
It really matters that we work with local authorities to make
sure that we improve air quality as quickly as possible. There
are broader issues with particulate matter and similar, but we
are still behind on nitrogen dioxide. The Greater Manchester area
is late in presenting its plan to the Department, and we are
continuing to work with it. Where there are those sorts of
measures—not a congestion zone but a charging zone for more
polluting vehicles—we will work on, and try to fund in the best
way we can, the measures needed to mitigate that.
Extract from Business
Questions
(Oldham West and Royton)
(Lab/Co-op): The Greater Manchester spatial framework is
causing a great deal of anxiety in my constituency. The plan,
with a Government-imposed housing target, will mean the net loss
of green-belt land. At the same time, insufficient funding is in
place to redevelop brownfield sites that the community is
desperate to see redeveloped. How can it be right that
landowners, through no positive action on their part, can be made
millionaires overnight through a simple change in land use
policy, when brownfield sites, which are desperate for funding
from Government, are being left to rot? How can that be a fair
settlement for the community?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Andrea
Leadsom): The hon. Gentleman raises a very serious
point. We all recognise the urgent need for much, much more house
building, so that more people can meet the aspiration of owning
their own home or being in secure living accommodation. It is
vital that we do that, but the way in which we do it is
incredibly important. Local government questions are on Monday 28
January, and I encourage him to raise that with Ministers then.
Extract from Commons
debate on Children’s Social Care
(West Ham) (Lab): As the
hon. Gentleman can hear, I am actually listening to his speech.
That is why I am so engaged in it. He is absolutely right about
the Troubled Families programme. Many parts of the country do it
very well—Manchester, for example, has totally and utterly
integrated its services and done it really well—but other local
authorities game the money and take it elsewhere. We need to make
sure that our next programme gets proper and effective results.
(Brentwood and Ongar)
(Con): I could not agree more. The freedoms given to the
Greater Manchester Combined Authority by this Administration have
allowed it to become a Petri dish for new ways of doing things,
breaking down silo budgets and taking a whole-area approach. I
have absolute confidence that the lessons being learned in
Manchester will eventually be taken and spread elsewhere. I feel
that the hon. Lady made another point other than Manchester that
I wanted to come back on...
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