Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lee Rowley and Ruth Edwards

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.

[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.

[Ruth Edwards]

I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

For strong, sustained growth it is vital that we protect, enhance and invest in our natural capital. Can the Minister give me an absolute promise that none of the proposed reforms to the planning system, including in the investment zones, will row back on the Government’s 10% biodiversity net gain requirement, as enshrined in our landmark Environment Act 2021?

[Lee Rowley]

As my hon. Friend knows, that biodiversity net gain does not come in for some time yet. It could be that, depending on the applications received for investment zones, the planning permissions will have gone through, or be in the process of going through, under the existing planning process. However, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have repeated at the Dispatch Box, and as is clear within the expression of interest guidance on investment zones, we are committed to strong environmental outcomes in those areas and across the planning system.