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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to encourage housing development on brownfield sites.

This Government is providing strong encouragement to local authorities, communities and housebuilders to make the most of suitable brownfield land.

Our National Planning Policy Framework asks local authorities to give great weight to re-using brownfield, and every authority publishes a register of brownfield land suitable for housing. Government gives significant financial assistance for the take-up of brownfield sites and for the necessary infrastructure– including the £4.95 billion Home Building Fund, the £400 million Brownfield Housing Fund and the £75 million Brownfield Land Release Fund. There is tax relief for land remediation, and wider permitted development rights allow yet more homes to be created.

Our further reforms of the planning system in England will ensure that communities have more meaningful opportunities to engage on local plans that set the rules for development in their areas, to produce design codes that have real teeth, and to have their say on the detailed aspects of planning applications. The reforms will also ensure that housing schemes come forward in areas identified for growth, while ensuring that valued countryside remains protected