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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have to streamline the local plans process; and when they expect to bring those proposals into operation.

Local Plans play a critical role in determining what development is appropriate and where, and it is therefore essential that plan-making is as simple, quick and accessible a process as possible. On 15 September, my hon. Friend, the Minister for Housing and Planning (Brandon Lewis), announced that we have brought together a panel of experts drawn from across the built-environment sector to help look at ways in which we could radically improve plan-making in practice (see attached). The group will consider all elements of plan-making from policy and procedural requirements of plans to how plan-making is practically undertaken. Their work will conclude in early 2016, after which I will set out to Parliament how we intend to proceed to reform plan-making.