Planning Reform

Charlie Dewhirst Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

There is support within the new framework to boost local and regional economies, and we want to encourage economic growth by giving substantial weight to the benefits of supporting business growth and to particular areas and sectors. I am more than happy to sit down with my hon. Friend and ministerial colleagues to give her a better sense of how the different initiatives across the Department, including Pride in Place, will work for her area and across the country.

[Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)]

The Minister will be aware that in certain parts of the country the agricultural planning system has ground to a halt, preventing modernisation on farms, stifling investment and damaging British food security. I welcome today’s measures on biodiversity net gain, but may I ask him to go further by tackling Natural England’s barmy guidance on nutrient neutrality and preventing vexatious judicial reviews against planning applications, to free up the hundreds of millions of pounds in the system?