Planning Reform

Monica Harding Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

I want to mention again the advocacy and work that my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) did on this subject through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill; he persuaded us to look at it very closely. The new policies on children’s play signal strong support for providing and safeguarding areas for children’s play, both through plan making and when dealing with development proposals. Importantly—my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) is right to reference this—they make it clear that local communities should be actively involved in the design of play areas, so that they are inclusive and reflect local needs.

[Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)]

The Government say that they are committed to green belt protection—in fact, the Minister has said as much at the Dispatch Box today—but the reality is set out in his statement, which says there will be a default “yes” to settlements around stations on green belt land. In my constituency of Esher and Walton, we have seven stations and lots and lots of green belt. What words can I use to reassure my constituents that that green belt is not under threat?

[Matthew Pennycook]

As I have said in response to previous questions, we made a series of changes to green belt land designation release in the NPPF last year. These changes have been carried over into the draft framework, with one substantive change, which is to enable appropriate development around well-connected train stations across the country, including in the green belt. What I would advise the hon. Lady to say to her constituents is that we should bring forward appropriate and appropriately dense development around existing public transport infrastructure.