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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which provisions of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2024 have (a) been and (b) are due to be commenced.

Following Royal Assent of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act (LURA) in October 2023, a small number of provisions were commenced by the previous government, for example relating to pavement licensing, planning enforcement and certain reforms to the compulsory purchase process.

Building on these measures, in September last year, a power enabling local authorities to bring forward affordable housing, national health or educational facilities through the use of compulsory purchase without paying ‘hope value’ compensation was fully commenced.

We have also made clear that we intend to commence powers contained in the LURA to improve the transparency of build out rates for residential development, including the introduction of commencement notices and progress reports. This was announced alongside the government’s response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation, published on 12 December.

We do not intend to commence provisions from the LURA that would cut across our commitments to streamline the planning process and unlock development, such as the Infrastructure Levy.