Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Maguire Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that adequate infrastructure is provided for new housing developments.

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)]

Local planning authorities are expected to plan effectively for infrastructure provision through local development plans and infrastructure funding statements. To support them, the Government have strengthened national planning policy in respect of community facilities and public service infrastructure, and we provide direct financial support for essential infrastructure in areas of greatest housing demand through land and infrastructure funding programmes.

[Ben Maguire]

To protect its profits, Wain Homes is now backing out of £350,000 of promised infrastructure funding in my town of Bodmin. But with more than 3,000 homes to be built by 2030, Bodmin now faces an infrastructure emergency. Just last week, the Prime Minister said:

“Cornwall lacks a basic level of infrastructure, which in turn harms growth and holds back…life chances”.—[Official Report, 1 September 2026; Vol. 790, c. 27.]

Will the Minister please consider greater control over infrastructure levies, like that enjoyed by other local authorities, as part of Cornwall’s bespoke devolution package?

[Matthew Pennycook]

My colleagues on the Front Bench will have heard the hon. Member’s request on the devolution offer that needs to be made to Cornwall. He cited a case where the developers backed out of their commitments: specifically on developer contributions, I should say that communities rightly expect necessary infrastructure to be provided and any commitments made to be met. Section 106 planning obligations help, obviously, to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal. They are legally binding and enforceable. If he wants to write to me with the particular circumstances of the case, he is more than welcome to do so.