Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2018 to Question 116503, whether the revised National Planning Policy Framework to include new developments will take account of culture, history and tradition where noise nuisance complaints are made about the continued ringing of church bells and chimes by residents living within existing developments.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework will clearly set out that the developer or ‘agent of change’ should be responsible for mitigating noise impacts and other potential nuisances arising from existing businesses and other organisations, such as churches when locating new development or changing uses nearby. However, noise nuisance complaints in existing developments are not handled through the planning system. They are subject to the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and other relevant law.

We are committed to working across government to further strengthen the ‘agent of change’ principle in policy and guidance.