Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council on planning applications for high-capacity battery storage.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by preventing both new and existing development from contributing to unacceptable levels of noise pollution. Local authorities should consider the use of planning conditions to mitigate and reduce to a minimum adverse impact on health and quality of life arising from noise from new development.
Government officials have been working to address potential safety and environmental impacts of battery energy storage system (BESS) sites. This includes recent updates to planning practice guidance, which encourages battery storage developers to engage with local fire and rescue services and local planning authorities to refer to the guidance published by the National Chiefs Fire Council. This ensures that matters relating to the siting and location of battery energy storage systems can be considered before an application is made.
With regard to any meetings between the Secretary of State and Rotheram Metropolitan Borough Council, I hope that you will appreciate that the Secretary of State's role in the planning system means that he cannot comment on any development proposal and neither can I comment on his behalf.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has published advice for local authorities on the (a) control and (b) removal of giant hogweed on land near to public right of way where there may be a risk to public health.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Giant hogweed is listed as a species of special concern under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019, which makes an offence of planting or otherwise causing giant hogweed to grow in the wild. As giant hogweed is widespread in the UK, there is no legal requirement to report it, nor is it compulsory to remove it. Although there are currently no plans for a large-scale eradication of giant hogweed, we support local eradication projects where this is feasible as part of management measures for this species.
Defra, in collaboration with Natural England and Environment Agency, has published guidance on how to stop the spread and dispose of invasive non-native plants that can harm the environment in England.
The GB Non-Native Species Secretariat website is the primary site for publicly available information on individual invasive species such as giant hogweed and includes links to management guidance documents produced by a range of organisations. The Secretariat carries out many public awareness campaigns, publishes articles, and provides training in which giant hogweed frequently features due to its human health impact.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen regulatory certainty for (a) the lithium industry and (b) other critical mineral industries.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The government’s Critical Minerals Strategy sets out how we are improving the resilience of critical mineral supply chains, safeguarding UK industry, increasing confidence in the UK’s energy transition, and protecting national security.
In terms of regulatory certainty, the Strategy sets out how we will ensure that UK domestic critical mineral companies comply with permitting and planning regulations, and how we will encourage the proportionate use of globally recognised frameworks and guidelines for responsible mining that protect the interests of communities and our natural environment.
Specifically on lithium, the Health and Safety Executive has published a Technical Report on the mandatory classification of three lithium substances (lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide) which identified additional information which requires further consideration and assessment before a Ministerial decision is made on the mandatory classification and labelling of these lithium substances in Great Britain.
To strengthen the UK’s domestic lithium industry, UK Infrastructure Bank recently invested approximately £24 million to support the mineral exploration company Cornish Lithium in St Ives.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many total working days were staff absent due to work-related stress in (a) her Department, (b) the Environment Agency and (c) Natural England in each year from 2010 to 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Absence specifically attributed to work-related stress is not currently recorded via HR sickness absence systems. Work-related stress cases – with or without any absence from work – are encouraged to be reported via work-related injury, ill-health and incident reporting procedures, as a health and safety incident, like any other work-related harm.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on taking light pollution into account when considering applications for new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with local authorities to help reduce light pollution in new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) dense and (b) high rise residential buildings on the (i) mental and (ii) physical health of their residents.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light.
The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that planning policies should mitigate, and reduce to a minimum, potential adverse impacts on health and quality of life resulting from noise from new development. They should also identify and protect tranquil areas which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and have high recreational and amenity value for this reason. Part E of the Building Regulations 2010 requires protection against sound from other parts of a building, adjoining buildings and within a dwelling-house, and prevention of unreasonable reverberation in common internal parts of buildings with residential flats or rooms.
The National Planning Policy Framework also highlights the importance of development creating places that have a high standard of amenity for existing and future users and recommends that planning policies for housing should apply the nationally described space standard where this is justified.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the regulation of space within residential accommodation to provide for a safe and healthy living environment.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light.
The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that planning policies should mitigate, and reduce to a minimum, potential adverse impacts on health and quality of life resulting from noise from new development. They should also identify and protect tranquil areas which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and have high recreational and amenity value for this reason. Part E of the Building Regulations 2010 requires protection against sound from other parts of a building, adjoining buildings and within a dwelling-house, and prevention of unreasonable reverberation in common internal parts of buildings with residential flats or rooms.
The National Planning Policy Framework also highlights the importance of development creating places that have a high standard of amenity for existing and future users and recommends that planning policies for housing should apply the nationally described space standard where this is justified.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) light and (b) noise issues are addressed in (i) planning and (ii) building regulations.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light.
The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that planning policies should mitigate, and reduce to a minimum, potential adverse impacts on health and quality of life resulting from noise from new development. They should also identify and protect tranquil areas which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and have high recreational and amenity value for this reason. Part E of the Building Regulations 2010 requires protection against sound from other parts of a building, adjoining buildings and within a dwelling-house, and prevention of unreasonable reverberation in common internal parts of buildings with residential flats or rooms.
The National Planning Policy Framework also highlights the importance of development creating places that have a high standard of amenity for existing and future users and recommends that planning policies for housing should apply the nationally described space standard where this is justified.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps is he taking to amend (a) planning and (b) housing regulations to help prevent overheating in new (i) housing and (ii) buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light.
The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that planning policies should mitigate, and reduce to a minimum, potential adverse impacts on health and quality of life resulting from noise from new development. They should also identify and protect tranquil areas which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and have high recreational and amenity value for this reason. Part E of the Building Regulations 2010 requires protection against sound from other parts of a building, adjoining buildings and within a dwelling-house, and prevention of unreasonable reverberation in common internal parts of buildings with residential flats or rooms.
The National Planning Policy Framework also highlights the importance of development creating places that have a high standard of amenity for existing and future users and recommends that planning policies for housing should apply the nationally described space standard where this is justified.