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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason his Department does not maintain a list of expired holding directions issued under section 31 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Holding directions issued under section 31 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 are not substantive decisions. They are merely a procedural tool which restricts the grant of planning permission by a local authority, and are used to allow Ministerial consideration of requests to call in planning applications. Once a decision on whether to call in an application or not has been made, the direction ceases to have effect.