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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to process planning applications for shale gas extraction.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on planning policy made by the Secretary of State on 17 May (HCWS689), which announced a range of planning measures to facilitate timely decisions on shale planning applications.