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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has appointed consultants to assess locations across the country as potential new town sites; whether Lichfields has been appointed to assess the M3/A303 corridor; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure there are no conflicts of interest in the appointment of consultants particularly in cases where a consultant has a vested interest in the development of a new town site.

The government has tasked the New Towns Taskforce, an independent expert advisory panel chaired by Sir Michael Lyons, with developing recommendations to ministers on suitable locations for new towns, as well as how to fund and deliver them. The Taskforce will submit its final report this summer.

The Taskforce will not be sharing information about its locations evidence base prior to publication of the final report.

Any use of external expertise will be carried out in line with established procurement rules in place for using external consultants. This includes ensuring that any conflicts are declared before any work begins and that appointed bodies are recused from decisions in which they have a conflict of interest.