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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken for enforcement appeals pending by written representations.

The Planning Inspectorate's Strategic Plan commits to removing all casework backlogs and meeting all Ministerial targets by 2027.

The Inspectorate continues to make considerable progress towards meeting that ambition across casework areas including nationally significant infrastructure projects, local plan examinations, critical Secretary of State casework and appeals against refusal of planning permission.

It is, for example:

• meeting all statutory timeframes for national infrastructure applications;
• increasingly deciding planning appeals by hearing and inquiry in around 26 weeks (the Ministerial measure), having already cleared a backlog of casework;
• beginning to decide enforcement appeals by hearing and inquiry in around 26 weeks (the ministerial measure) for the first time in many years, as it clears a long standing backlog of casework; and
• reducing the total number of live planning appeals by written representations every month (the highest volume area of casework).

Appeals against enforcement notices and refused lawful development certificates is the remaining significant area of casework backlog.

The Planning Inspectorate is an Arm's Length Government Body with responsibility for allocation of resources, prioritisation and overall operational performance. The Inspectorate publishes updates on its performance on its website regularly.

The Planning Inspectorate does not record the date an inspector is assigned to a case and are unable to give the average and longest wait time for an inspector.