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 removing Sport England as a statutory consultee in the planning system on the protection of community playing fields; whether he plans to publish his Department's impact assessment on moving Sport England as a statutory consultee in the planning system; and what mechanisms he intends to put in place to safeguard community sports provision should the current statutory consultation arrangements be changed.

On 17 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation closes on 13 January 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.

No decision will be made on Sport England’s role until responses to the consultation have been fully analysed and considered.