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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process by which neighbourhood plans are agreed; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the timescale to agree neighbourhood plans.

Neighbourhood plans are agreed via local referendums and, to date, there have been over 700 successful referendums. In 2016 the Government introduced reforms through the Housing and Planning Act to speed up and simplify the neighbourhood planning process including setting time limits to ensure local authorities make timely decisions at key stages. These reforms were supported by the publication of sector-led and Government planning guidance. The Government continues to keep these recent reforms to the neighbourhood planning process under review.