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Campaigning archive

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September 2007

Labour Party Conference: hosted fringe meeting with Homeless charity CRISIS entitled "More carrot, less stick: How to encourage the responsible landlord". The panel comprised housing experts NLA Chairman David Salusbury, Dr Phyllis Starkey MP (Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee) and Duncan Shrubsole, Director of Policy and Research at CRISIS.

Conservative Party Conference: reception with speaker Grant Shapps MP, Shadow Housing Minister. Attended by Stephen Hammond MP, Transport spokesman, Mark Isherwood AM, Shadow Minister for Social Justice, Equality and Housing in the Welsh Assembly in addition to local councillors and prospective parliamentary candidates from across the country.

NLA responds to the following government consultations:

• The Homes for the Future: More affordable, More Sustainable – looks at Government plans to increase the supply and quality of housing in the coming years.
• The Discrimination Law Review – A Framework for Fairness: Proposals for a single Equality Bill for Great Britain – attempts to examine how the laws relating to discrimination might need to be clarified and simplified.
• Select Committee Enquiry into Existing Housing Stock and Climate Change – as the UK’s housing stock accounts for a quarter of all carbon emissions the Communities and Local Government Committee is seeking to build up a picture of the current state of awareness and uptake of energy efficiency measures across tenures.
• Encouraging Responsible Letting – the Law Commission is examining methods of reforming the private rented sector.
• Housing: Proportional Dispute Resolution – The Role of Tribunals – seeks to speed up and streamline the determination of Housing Disputes.
• A Code of Practice for Regulators – A Consultation, Consultation on the Regulators’ Compliance Code and the scope of the Code and the Principles of Good Regulation – a consultation on the organisation’s latest compliance code.

Policy team responds to the following local authority consultations:

• South Holland District Council – Supplementary Planning Document
• Newcastle City Council – A second consultation
• Milton Keynes – Draft Private Sector Housing Strategy
• Thanet Council – Draft Private Sector Housing Strategy
• North Port Talbot – Private Rented Housing Accreditation Scheme Proposals
• Welsh Ethnic Minority Housing Action Plan

Reception for the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers for the second "100 Days of Carbon Clean Up" campaign, in conjunction with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change.

Meeting with Newcastle City Council representatives responsible for relations with the Private Rented Sector, regeneration and studentification issues.

July 2007

Meeting with senior officers at Department for Communities and Local Government to discuss new NLA manifesto which includes Possession, Local Housing Allowance, HMO Licensing, Taxation, Council Tax and Energy Efficiency.

Meeting with Laurence Robertson MP (profile), Conservative MP for Tewkesbury and Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland

Meeting with new Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps MP (profile), Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield to discuss issues concerning the private rented sector. Mr Shapps agreed to speak at the NLA event at the Conservative Party Conference in October.

Presentation at London Housing Federation's "Private Sector Housing" conference [see related article]

June 2007

NLA joins the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, recognising the important role housing can play in our efforts to control the effects of Climate Change. NLA attends Crisis annual conference to meet a wide variety of stakeholders in the housing sector and discuss the role the PRS plays in providing homes to formerly homeless individual.

NLA outlines continued concerns over the introduction of Local Housing Allowance direct payments to the political advisor of Conservative Welfare Spokesperson, David Ruffley.

Meeting with Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes, DEFRA and the Energy Retail Association to discuss work in the private rented sector on energy efficiency.

Attended the All Party Parliamentary Gas Safety Group, which discussed the changes to CORGI’s current contract, tenders for a new gas regulatory body.