Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what account he has taken of the Government's policy to end unabated coal in framing National Planning Policy Framework guidelines on the approval of new coal extraction projects.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Department for Energy and Climate Change will be launching a consultation on how to fulfil the Government's commitment to phase out existing unabated coal as an energy source for power stations shortly. The National Planning Policy Framework and planning practice guidance, sets the planning framework for mineral planning authorities to assess applications for the extraction of coal, they do not address the specific uses of coal.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 7 on page 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework, published in March 2012 whether his Department has made an assessment of the extent to which the UK's carbon budgets and 2050 climate target is taken into account by planning authorities when making planning decisions.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that sustainable development should be at the heart of planning, and should be pursued in a positive and integrated way. It makes it clear that policies set out in paragraphs 18 to 219, taken as a whole, constitute the Government's view of what sustainable development in England means in practice for the planning system – both in preparing local plans and taking decisions on individual planning applications. It is for the decision-maker to take these policies into account when considering applications for development.