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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of plans to remove the requirement for local councils to produce Strategic Housing Market Assessments, how they will ensure councils do not approve inappropriate planning requests in sensitive areas.

In order to plan properly, local authorities need to properly understand how many homes they need to build in their area. “Planning for the right homes in the right places”, published on 14 September, sets out a proposed transparent and consistent method for assessing the need for homes in each area.

The consultation paper explains that when determining individual planning applications the decision-maker would still need to take account of the all policies in the National Planning Policy Framework, including those which restrict development (including policies relating to the Green Belt and Ancient Woodland).