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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of planning reform proposals on the timescales for the adoption of local plans by local authorities in the West Midlands.

Local planning authorities are responsible for publishing the intended timeframes for the production and adoption of their local plans.

The government is determined to drive local plans to adoption as quickly as possible in order to achieve our ambition of universal plan coverage and to ensure plans contribute positively to our Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new safe and decent homes in England by the end of this Parliament.

Local planning authorities are expected to work towards the adoption of an up-to-date local plan as soon as possible. In 2025, my Department awarded over £19 million of funding to support local plan delivery. We recently announced a further £14 million of funding in the financial year 2025-2026 to support local planning authorities with plan-making.