Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Craig Williams and Lee Rowley

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con)]

22. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of investment zones on the environment.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Lee Rowley)]

Investment zones seek to empower communities to deliver planning and outcomes that are right for the local area, while maintaining strong environmental outcomes and keeping national green belt policies in place. They are about working with local areas, and we look forward to receiving applications from Wales in due course.

[Craig Williams]

I welcome the commitment from the Dispatch Box to get investment zones established in Wales with the Welsh Government. The Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, with which I am working closely, are seeking reassurances from those on the Front Bench about all the environmental protections we have on the statute books. We welcome investment zones and we want them in Montgomeryshire, but those strong protections are important to us. Will the Minister again confirm those protections?

[Lee Rowley]

We are absolutely committed to strong environmental outcomes, as I am happy to repeat and as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already said. We look forward to applications from Montgomeryshire.