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Alok Sharma is new Housing and Planning Minister and Greg Hands is new Minister for London

Theresa May’s appointment of Alok Sharma as the new housing and planning minister is something of a surprise: the role normally goes to someone who has served as a councillor or has experience of local government, which Sharma lacks.

There is some evidence of his views on housing and planning issues. Sharma spoke in the second reading debate on the Localism Bill to welcome the removal of ‘top down’ housing targets: “The perception is that there is little upside for local communities in taking larger developments in their area. All such developments seem to offer is more traffic, more congestion, more pressure on local public services, the loss of valuable green spaces and amenities, and a detrimental impact on the local environment. Overall, the current planning system seems to lead, in many larger development proposals, to a gladiatorial contest, pitting local residents against the might and resources of developers.”

Sharma also publicly welcomed the National Planning Policy Framework when it was published in October 2011, but he has not made a habit of speaking on the subject since then.

In local work in his constituency he is happy to highlight his work against development of green spaces, and in cutting back the scale of the Bath Road Reservoir site in Reading. His election leaflets in 2017 included a five point plan, of which point four was “Champion sustainable housing development, whilst continuing to protect valuable green spaces like Pincent Hill”.

Born in Agra, India in 1967, Sharma  grew up in Earley and Whitley Wood in Reading. He attended the fee-paying Reading Blue Coat School and then studied physics and electronics at Salford University; however he chose to make his career with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte as a chartered accountant. He worked in banking for Nikko Securities and then for 15 years with Enskilda Securities – working in London, Stockholm and Frankfurt.

When he returned to the UK in 2003 after four years in Germany, he became more interested in politics. After the 2005 election his wife suggested he should try for a seat in Parliament, and Sharma was selected for his home seat of Reading West in November 2006 – the first time he had stood for selection. After a long campaign, he won the seat in the 2010 general election, gaining it from Labour.

In Parliament he initially joined the Science and Technology Select Committee. Sharma was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for BME Communities by then party chairman Grant Shapps in 2012; he was also co-chairman of Conservative Friends of India. Later in the Parliament he served briefly on the Treasury Select Committee, concentrating on reform of the banking sector. After the 2015 election he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Oliver Letwin as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in 2016 was named as the Prime Minister’s Infrastructure Envoy to India

Sharma supported a remain vote in the 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union, and was subsequently an early backer of Theresa May in the Conservative leadership race. He was rewarded with a Ministerial promotion as a junior Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for Asia and the Pacific.

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Greg Hands has been made Minister for London in the post election reshuffle, while retaining his post as Minister of State in the Department of International Trade, with responsibility for Trade and Investment.  Hands read Modern History at Cambridge and is a speaker of German, French, Czech and Slovak; he is very interested in political developments in other European countries. Hands had a career in the City as a derivatives trader before going into politics.

Hands was first involved in local politics when elected to Hammersmith and Fulham Council in 1998; he won the seat previously held by the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the Council. A year later he was elected Leader of the Conservative Group on the council, but in 2002 was selected as Parliamentary candidate for the marginal seat of Hammersmith and Fulham. He handed over the council group leadership to Stephen Greenhalgh who succeeded in winning control of the borough in 2006. Meanwhile Hands had gained his seat in the 2005 general election, and since 2010 has represented the safe seat of Chelsea and Fulham. He was a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee from June 2006 to May 2010.

He has had a varied ministerial career; from 2015-2016 he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and prior to this he was in the Whips Office for four years. Hands was one of the more enthusiastic Conservative supporters of a ‘remain’ vote in the referendum; after initial caution he backed Theresa May in the leadership election. His association with David Cameron and his delay in rallying to Theresa May meant he was demoted from the Cabinet in her reshuffle and given a second rank role in Liam Fox’s department.

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Smooth operation

Many thanks for last night: a very smooth operation!

Message was very welcome

Was a great result – especially to receive unanimous approval! Many thanks also for you and your team’s work in the run up to the committee. Getting those messages across really helped and was evident by the feedback given by members on both sides of the political spectrum … notably on the successfully engagement with residents and how the scheme responded accordingly. Message was very welcome!

On point

Harry was on point and has been the whole way through. We are all very chuffed. We are already preparing for another rather testing application on another site and you can be certain that we will engage you

Appreciated

Thanks Richard, your help has been much appreciated. Will let you know when the next job comes up!

Big guns!

Thanks for your and the team’s help. It was good to know we had the proverbial big guns in our armoury!

You kept calm

Many thanks for that: your team did very well, and kept a lot calmer than me! Matt was a sensible wise head, as was Alex, but he also made me think succinctly for the questions and how to answer, which is a great skill to try and acquire. Especially for someone as verbose as me!

A unanimous approval

Councillors praised both officers and the developer on their work and engagement.

A unanimous approval 5-0

With your help

Really pleased to hear the news this evening

With your help, we got it through !!!!

Best Regards!

Truly excellent example

Great news that we approved 60 houses on green belt last night.

It was tremendous that the Chair said that this was a “truly excellent example of good consultation…”

Gave me more confidence

Thank you – we were both somewhat surprised given the level of objections but in fact the committee hardly discussed the scheme at all before consenting it.

Thanks to your team for preparing me well for the committee which certainly gave me more confidence.

A big relief

Thank you. A big relief. As I am sure you can appreciate, we are delighted!

Your team did a great job, especially Matt who was integral.

I look forward to catching up soon.

Unanimous

196 flats approved unanimously, thanks to all involved.

Professional and effective

I wanted to thank you and all at Thorncliffe for managing the consultation process so professionally and effectively. This, without doubt, played a crucial role in gaining the approval.

Once again, all our thanks.

Was a good result

Cant remember the last time I got anything through unanimously!

Was a good result, it’s the right scheme for the site and of course we had a great team including yourselves working on it,

First class troops

Richard. Your troops did a first class job as always. Many thanks

Praise for communityUK

Well done for the way you presented tonight’s online consultation. I thought it was an excellent format.

Great result last night

I just wanted to say thank you again for all your help with the great result last night.

You have been tremendous and it is much appreciated.

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