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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the investment zones policy announced in the Growth Plan 2022 will allow for the creation of such zones in (a) National Parks and (b) Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

While this Government sees Investment Zones as being critical to turbocharging growth across the country, this growth will not come at the expense of downgrading the strong and long-established protections for National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The recently launched Expression of Interest process specifically asks whether the proposed development would be on land that is in or adjacent to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to make sure that we treat these sites with the appropriate care and consideration. The EOI also makes clear that any successful Investment Zone must agree to mitigate the environmental impacts of development.

Local consent is critical to this, and Investment Zones will not be imposed on any area or specific site. The Local Planning Authority, that includes National Park Authorities, must support any proposal for an Investment Zone site through the EOI process. Proposals without this local consent will not be taken forward.