Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in the context of consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework, if he will revise Part 9 to recognise mobile telecommunications as an essential service and reflect this in planning reform to deliver connectivity across the UK.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted a new National Planning Policy Framework. The consultation on the revised framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included a new section intended to replace Chapter 10 of current Framework on supporting high-quality telecommunications infrastructure.

We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.