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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including the reuse of existing buildings in the Planning for the Future reforms.

The Planning White Paper consultation closed on 29 October 2020, and we are currently considering the responses. My Department is undertaking further detailed policy development on individual elements of the proposals. Policy developed as part of these reforms will apply to England only.

The existing National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to prioritise brownfield land, which includes land containing existing buildings, for development wherever possible. Local authorities are best placed to assess the potential of individual sites, and each authority is required to publish a register of its developable brownfield suitable for new homes.