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

To ask His Majesty's Government what their policy is towards repurposing old buildings for housing, to help address the housing crisis.

We have been clear that development must look to brownfield first, prioritising previously used land wherever possible. To support this, we propose a set of targeted changes in our consultation on reforms to the NPPF, published 30 July. These changes include an expanded definition of previously developed land, and changes to make clear that the default answer to brownfield development should be ‘yes’.

National planning policy also expects local councils to support efforts to identify and bring back into residential use empty homes and other suitable buildings.