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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Written Statement of 30 July 2024 on Building the homes we need, HCWS48, how many of the new planning officers will have the expertise to handle historic and traditionally constructed buildings.

At the Budget, the Chancellor announced a £46 million package of investment to support capacity and capability in local planning authorities.

We are working with delivery partners to understand how we can scale delivery and fund the recruitment and training of an additional 300 planners as part of that investment. This includes expansion of the Pathways to Planning programme which has had significant interest from prospective graduates wanting to take up roles in local planning authorities and train while they work.

In relation to the specific skills needed in managing historic buildings, we are developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, including Historic England, to ensure that local planning authorities have the types of skills, both now and in the future. More details will be announced in due course.

This will be further underpinned by increases in planning fees we are introducing in the coming months that will help improve the resourcing of planning services, so that LPAs can fund the skills they need.