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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to require local authorities to collect and publish baseline data on current (a) sports facilities and (b) heritage landscapes.

My Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) distribution and (b) availability of sports pitches by local authorities.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space, sport and recreation facilities (including quantitative or qualitative deficits or surpluses) and opportunities for new provision. Information gained from the assessments should be used to determine what open space, sport and recreational provision is needed, which plans should then seek to accommodate.

The NPPF also sets out policies to maintain pitches and to conserve protected landscapes and designated heritage assets, all of which are important material considerations to be taken into account when dealing with applications for development which may affect them.