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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to amend the Planning Act 2008 to allow Town and Parish Councils to support emergency covid-19 community groups with funding that has been received through the Community Infrastructure Levy.

The Neighbourhood Share of the Community Infrastructure Levy ensures that up to 25 per cent of levy revenue is passed to a parish council in the area that development occurred, and provides considerable flexibility over the use of the funding. Parish councils can use the levy to fund anything concerned with addressing the potential demands that development places on their area. This includes provision which may respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as medical infrastructure.

More generally, the Secretary of State has written to principal authorities asking them to work closely with parish councils in order to ensure that the funding support provided to principal authorities has the maximum effect where it is most needed. We continue to encourage parish and town councils to work with their principal authority where they are delivering vital services that have been affected by COVID-19.