Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the policies set out in her Department’s policy paper entitled Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees, published on 9 December 2024, on local democracy.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government believe that planning committees have an integral role in providing local democratic oversight of planning decisions. It is however vital that in exercising that democratic oversight, planning committees operate as effectively as possible.
The government’s planning reform working paper on planning committees invites views on a range of proposals designed to support better decision making in the planning system. If we determine to take forward any of the proposals in question, each of which would require primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, they would be the subject of further detailed consultation in the normal way – in particular where necessary to underpin secondary legislation following passage of the Bill.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December to Question 16276 on Warm Homes Plan: Insulation, whether the Warm Homes Plan will support investment in loft insulation protection.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s Warm Homes Plan will support investment in insulation, low carbon heating and other home improvements to cut bills. We will set out full details in due course.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to policy paper entitled Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees, published on 9 December 2024, which individual would decide whether or not an application was compliant with a Local Plan; and what the process would be in the event of a disagreement on that matter, when deciding whether or not to delegate to planning officers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s planning reform working paper on planning committees invites views on three options for a national scheme of delegation. If we determine to take forward any of those options, each of which would require primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, they would be the subject of further detailed consultation in the normal way – in particular where necessary to underpin secondary legislation following passage of the Bill.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees, published on 9 December 2024, whether it is her policy that Councillors would have a role in determining a reserved matters application where the outline approval was compliant with the Local Plan but a reserved matter may not be.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s planning reform working paper on planning committees invites views on three options for a national scheme of delegation. If we determine to take forward any of those options, each of which would require primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, they would be the subject of further detailed consultation in the normal way – in particular where necessary to underpin secondary legislation following passage of the Bill.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department’s policy paper entitled Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees, published on 9 December 2024, what say ward councillors would have on a planning application in their ward; where they disagreed with the decision of the planning officer; and whether they could call-in the matter to a planning committee.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s planning reform working paper on planning committees invites views on three options for a national scheme of delegation. If we determine to take forward any of those options, each of which would require primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, they would be the subject of further detailed consultation in the normal way – in particular where necessary to underpin secondary legislation following passage of the Bill.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press notice entitled Thousands of new homes to be built as government unlocks brownfield sites, published on 15 October 2024, how much and what proportion of the £550 million impact investments are funded by (a) direct grants from and (b) financial transactions underwritten by the government.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 16497 on 5 December 2024.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 21 November 2024 on G20 and COP29 Summits, Official Report, columns 371-373 and pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024, to Question 14996, on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with her on the planning application for the proposed Chinese Embassy between 23 August and 18 October 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The decision to call in the planning application for the proposed Chinese Embassy was made by the Deputy Prime Minister, in line with current policy on call-in.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to remove the requirement for councillor’s home addresses to be published.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Primary legislation is needed to remove the requirement for local government members’ home addresses to be included in published versions of registers of interests. We intend to legislate at the first available opportunity.
There are also limited circumstances where those local government candidates acting as their own election agent may need to disclose their home address during an election, when they do not provide an office address. We are considering whether to amend this requirement, whilst ensuring that agents continue to provide a correspondence address for enforcement and legal purposes.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her (a) housing and (b) planning policy is on encouraging councils to turn (i) empty and (ii) redundant office space into residential accommodation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements, including the development of under-utilised land and buildings to meet the need for homes and other uses.
As part of our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the Framework, we set out proposals to broaden the existing definition of brownfield land, set a strengthened expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved, and make clear that plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas.
On 22 September we published a ‘brownfield passport’ policy paper inviting views on how we might further prioritise and fast-track building on previously used urban land.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's policy paper, entitled Brownfield Passport: Making the Most of Urban Land, published in September 2024, whether it is her policy that planning approvals under the new brownfield passport regime would still require a substantive planning application.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s planning reform working paper regarding a brownfield passport invites views on further action the government could take through the planning system to support the development of brownfield land in urban areas. It proposes options for a form of ‘brownfield passport’, which would be more specific about the development that should be regarded as acceptable, with the default answer to suitable proposals being a straightforward “yes”. The proposals relate to the principle, the scale, and the form of development, and to the potential wider use of Local Development Orders to grant area-wide permissions – all in a way that retains appropriate local oversight. A series of questions are posed at the end of the paper, to inform discussions with the sector before determining whether any of these proposals are taken forward. We continue to accept responses to the paper, and will set out further information on how we intend to respond in due course.