Oral Answers to Questions

George Freeman Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

1. What steps his Department has taken to make the planning system more accessible to local people.

[George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)]

2. What steps his Department has taken to make the planning system more accessible to local people.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)]

For the first time ever, people who are not councillors or planning officers can get involved in drawing up a plan for their community that has full statutory weight. More than 540 communities have been designated as neighbourhood planning areas and a further 210 have applied.

[Nick Boles]

The best defence and the way to guarantee that the local authority representing local people is in the driving seat is for that local authority to get on and complete its local plan. That is sometimes a difficult process, but that is the best thing to do—to get on and complete that local plan.

[George Freeman]

Does the Minister agree that for far too long under the previous Government planning seemed to be done to communities, rather than by them? Last week I attended and spoke at the public inquiry into the potential development of the Tiffey valley, which South Norfolk district council, with a five-year land supply, is defending. What assurance can my hon. Friend give me that under the Localism Act 2011, which we all supported in this House, councils that have a land supply and are seeking to implement a town plan will receive the Government’s support?

[Nick Boles]

It is true that we have finally, after a certain amount of effort, managed to scrap the regional strategies that the previous Government used to impose entirely unwanted plans on local communities. The best way to ensure that local decisions will be supported and will stick is for local authorities to have a clear plan which sets out how they will meet their objectively assessed needs. That means that they can pick and choose where and how those needs will be met.