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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to improve the terms of employment as a local authority planning officer.

Proactive planning is vital to delivering the housing we desperately need and to support economic growth. The Government recognise that local authority planning departments face capacity and capability challenges due to prolonged underfunding of services and that this has placed significant strain on the planners that provide these services.

Within weeks of taking office, the Government consulted on increasing planning fees to put planning services on a firmer footing and to reflect the real costs. We have now gone further and committed an additional £46 million in the spending review to fund 300 additional planners in local government and to support local planning authorities to deliver the essential reforms to local plans and development management.

Planning officers play a vital role, and I wrote to the President of the RTPI to underline the value we place on them and the work they do.