"I start by declaring an interest: my wife is the joint chief executive of the Law Commission, whose work I will cite in the course of my remarks.
It is a pleasure to respond to this vital debate on behalf of the Government, and I warmly congratulate my hon. Friend …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
That the Committee has considered the draft Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026.
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. The regulations were laid before the House on 1 June and, following a …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"I knew that this instrument would provoke strong feelings, and it has done so, but I very much welcome the scrutiny provided by hon. Members and the considered contributions they have made.
The first thing to say is that a principled case has been advanced—as it was during the Planning …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"And we think that is right on schedule 1 applications. They are a very different proposition from schedule 2 applications, which we think members should be able to take a view on through the gateway test...." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"That is a fair question. As I set out in my opening remarks, if such an application were to meet the conditions in schedule 2, it would go in front of the chief planning officer, in most instances, and the chair of the planning committee, and a gateway test would …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"I refer the hon. Gentleman to the comments that I have just made. The impact assessment for the Act was published on the basis of a particular scenario, which we have modified. We need to update the impact assessment and we will do so in due course so that he …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"I do not believe so, because local planning authority schemes must adhere to planning regulations and meet the gateway test—in the sense of what can pass a committee—and the statutory guidance to which they must have regard. In a sense, we want to ensure that applications passing through the gateway …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"Planning officers routinely make decisions without applications going to committee. We trust them to do so; they are bound by the requirements that I have just set out.
The hon. Member touches on a point that I was going to come to. It is important to ensure that we have …..." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech
"I do not have that information to hand. I am more than happy to follow up in correspondence with my hon. Friend, as I said. I will bring that data, and any further data we have available, to any meeting that we might have on this subject...." Matthew Pennycook - View Speech