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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking in response to the Planning for the future consultation.

The consultation on ‘Planning for the Future’ closed on 29 October 2020, and received over 44,000 responses, showing the significant interest the reforms generated. We received views from across the sector, including from local authorities, the private sector, community groups, and large numbers of individuals. We also held a series of roundtables with key stakeholder groups, and officials attended over sixty events run by external organisations.

We are considering all of this feedback carefully, and will publish our response setting out the proposed way forward. We anticipate introducing legislation to deliver aspects of the reforms and will continue to engage with the range of interests involved the planning system as our proposals are developed further.