Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the Government’s target of 1.5 million new homes that will be delivered on (a) previously developed land, (b) greenfield land within settlements, (c) greenfield land outside settlements, (d) Green Belt land released through local plans and (e) Grey Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance he has issued on accountability where planning decisions are delegated to officers; whether planning officers will be required to publish written reasons for delegated decisions in all cases; what right (a) applicants, (b) ward councillors and (c) members of the public will have to request elected member consideration; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of democratic oversight in the new arrangements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the draft National Planning Policy Framework on the amount of development expected to take place on (a) greenfield land and (b) land outside defined settlement boundaries; whether his Department has modelled the effect of Policy S5 on the volume of speculative planning applications for unallocated sites; and if he will publish that assessment.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
By law, planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
The National Planning Policy Framework must be taken into account in preparing the development plan, and is a material consideration in planning decisions.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the draft National Planning Policy Framework on the capacity of local planning authorities to refuse planning applications that conflict with locally adopted planning policies; whether he expects National Decision-Making Policies to take precedence over locally adopted development management policies in practice; and if he will publish that assessment.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
By law, planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
The National Planning Policy Framework must be taken into account in preparing the development plan, and is a material consideration in planning decisions.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the proportion of planning applications in England that will be determined by (a) elected planning committees and (b) planning officers following the introduction of the National Scheme of Delegation; what assessment he has made of the impact of those changes on local democratic accountability; and whether he plans to publish annual statistics on the proportion of planning applications determined by officers and by elected members.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the National Scheme of Delegation on progress towards the Government’s target of delivering 1.5 million homes and (b) a reduction in the number of planning applications determined by elected planning committees on local democratic input into housing development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what circumstances will permit an application that would otherwise be delegated to a planning officer to be referred to a planning committee; what role ward councillors will have in requesting such referrals; and what assessment he has made of the consistency of those arrangements across local planning authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the reduction in the number of planning applications considered by elected planning committees as a result of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025; and what assessment he has made of the impact of this on the role of elected councillors in determining planning applications.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local planning authorities will be required to publish data on (a) the number of applications determined by officers, (b) the number determined by planning committees, (c) applications referred to committee but refused permission to do so and (d) the reasons why applications were not considered by elected members.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has published statutory guidance setting out how the national scheme of delegation will operate, including the arrangements for referral to planning committees and transparency and reporting requirements. This can be found on gov.uk here.
An updated impact assessment was reviewed by the Regulatory Policy Committee and published alongside the final Regulations (The Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026). This can be found on gov.uk here.
My Department already publishes data on applications which are delegated to planning officers. Once the Regulations in question come into force on 31st October 2026, we will collect data on applications referred to planning committees. This information will be published alongside other national planning statistics on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of local planning authorities which will meet the housing requirements generated by the revised standard method; what estimate he has made of the number of authorities which will meet the Housing Delivery Test or five-year housing land supply requirements; and whether he has assessed the impact this would have on the number of speculative planning applications determined under the presumption in favour of sustainable development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The standard method identifies a minimum annual housing need figure and ensures that plan-making is informed by an unconstrained assessment of the number of homes needed in an area. It does not produce a housing requirement figure. Once local housing need has been assessed, authorities should then make an assessment of the amount of new homes that can be provided in their area. This should be justified by evidence on land availability, constraints on development and any other relevant matters.
Local planning authorities with up-to-date plans are assessed against their adopted plan housing requirement for the purposes of the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) and five-year housing land supply (5YHLS). Where an authority does not have an up-to-date plan, local housing need (calculated using the standard method) is used.
The current HDT results are the 2023 measurement, published on 12 December 2024. These results continue to apply until a subsequent Housing Delivery Test measurement is published. We remain committed to publishing the 2024 and 2025 HDT results as soon as possible. The Department does not formally collect 5YHLS data. The 5YHLS position of any given authority is often in flux and typically determined through planning appeals. As such, there are challenges in capturing comprehensive and robust data at any given time.
My Department has made no specific assessment of the impact of the revised standard method published on 12 December 2024 on the number of speculative planning applications determined under the presumption in favour of sustainable development. While failing against either HDT or 5YHLS is a strong indicator of housing need in an area not being sufficiently met, it does not mean that planning permission for housing will be automatically granted, and local planning authorities must consider a range of factors when determining planning applications.