Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing people who have made representations on development plans to participate in examination hearings.
Section 19 (6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 states that any person who makes representations seeking to change a development plan document must (if they so request) be given the opportunity to appear before and be heard by the person carrying out the examination. Further details of the Government’s planning reforms will be announced in due course.