The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)
I wish to update hon. Members on progress towards the reform of national planning policy.
The Localism Bill, which has completed its report stage in the House of Lords, makes a significant transfer of power over planning matters from central and regional government to local communities. To enable these powers to be used, national planning policy must be made more accessible; in the course of the last decade, national policy has grown to over 1,000 pages in volume—a significant barrier to the engagement of local residents and their community representatives.
Our reforms are intended to simplify the system, strengthen local participation and to help achieve sustainable development. The planning system has always enshrined the principle that the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development should be considered in a balanced way—and it will continue to do so.
In December 2010, my Department published a call for evidence and in July 2011 issued a draft new national planning policy framework. The 12-week consultation period on the draft framework closed on 17 October. We will now carefully consider all of the submissions that have been made.
I have asked the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to consider and make suggestions on the draft. We will also take fully into account the comments of hon. Members in a debate to be held in the House of Commons in Government time on 20 October, and in the House of Lords on 27 October, as well as the comments made in the debates during the proceedings on the Localism Bill.
Having fully considered the suggestions made, the Government will then publish the revised text taking into account representations that have been made and a summary of responses to the consultation. The Government are committed to the publication of this final version of the framework by 31 March 2012, but intend to do so well ahead of that time.
The framework aims to strengthen local decision making and reinforce the importance of local plans. We will therefore work closely with local authorities to ensure that appropriate transitional arrangements are in place before the new framework comes into force.