Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities have a clear process to follow for shared ownership and community benefit clean energy planning permission.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the Clean Power Action Plan, we made it clear that where communities host clean energy infrastructure they should feel tangible and enduring benefit of doing so. Shared ownership plays a key role in ensuring all communities can share the benefits from the transition to net zero 2050.
We are in the process of reviewing responses to our recent working paper and will continue to explore the role of local authorities in community benefit funds and shared ownership opportunities.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which Minister would be responsible for the planning decision regarding the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre following the passage of the Holocaust Memorial Bill.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Arrangements for handling of the planning application for the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre are publicly available on gov.uk here.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the arrangements between local planning authorities and advisory Lead Local Flood Authorities on decision making in the planning system.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) are statutory consultees within the planning system and provide expert advice on surface water drainage for major planning applications, supporting local planning authorities in the decision-making process.
Local planning authorities must take into account comments raised by LLFAs when determining whether to grant planning permission.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many NSIP applications for data centres have been approved since January 2020 where the relevant local authority submitted a report raising concerns about the development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 90592 on 21 November 2025.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025, to Question 89478, on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, if she will list each date that she has met representatives of the Chinese Government.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As stated in my previous answer, the Chancellor has engaged with the Chinese Government on a number of occasions to discuss economic and financial issues. Data on ministers' overseas travel and meetings with external individuals and organisations is published every quarter. This can be found here and here.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the impact of Sport England’s consultee status on planning applications for playing fields.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
A consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system is underway and can be found on gov.uk here.
The consultation asks for views on the impacts of removing Sport England’s status as a statutory consultee as part of our work to align the statutory consultee system with the development and economic growth objectives set out in our Plan for Change.
Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities to (a) impose penalties on developers who fail to complete adoptable highway works within agreed timescales and (b) recover administration and remedial costs through statutory enforcement notices.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities already have a wide range of enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance.
Where a local planning authority thinks that a condition imposed on a planning permission has not been met, they can serve a breach of condition notice which requires the recipient to remedy the breach within a specified time. There is no appeal against such a notice and failure to comply with it is an offence punishable by an unlimited fine.
An enforcement notice can be served against any breach of planning control – where there is no planning permission for development or the terms of a permission (including a condition) have been breached.
Enforcement is a statutory function for which local planning authorities need to budget. As such, the costs of enforcement activity are not generally recoverable. In some circumstances, authorities can take direct action to remedy a breach of planning control and seek to recover any costs reasonably incurred in doing so from the landowner.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of lowering affordable housing requirements on levels of social housing supply in London in the (a) long and (b) short term.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
When it comes to development, London faces challenges that are common to all parts of England over recent years. These include a significant increase in building material prices; a rise in financing costs; and planning capacity and capability pressures.
In addition, the capital faces a number of challenges unique to its housing market which differs in important ways from the rest of the country. These include the fact that London is overwhelmingly reliant on flatted developments; has depended over recent decades on demand from international buyers and investors; and has a higher proportion of landowners (and traders acting on their behalf) who are global investors allocating development funding based on competing returns globally and across asset classes.
The combination of these and other factors has resulted in a perfect storm for housebuilding in our capital. Overall home starts in London in 2024-25 totalled just 3,990. Affordable housing starts in 2024/25 were less than 20% of their 2022/23 level. In the first quarter of this year, more than a third of London Boroughs recorded zero housing starts.
My Department has engaged extensively with housebuilders, registered providers of social housing, and London Boroughs to understand fully the housing delivery challenge in London and to develop measures to address it.
While viability pressures are impacting residential development in many parts of the country, we know they are particularly acute in London. Those pressures were already resulting in proportions of affordable housing being reduced on schemes following viability assessment. According to Greater London Authority (GLA) monitoring data, the average affordable housing level of referable applications that have been approved through their viability tested route was 20 per cent between 2022-2024.
To address this, the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London announced a new package of support for housebuilding in London that included developers to access a new, time-limited planning route to incentivise build out. This will sit alongside the existing Fast Track and Viability Tested routes and will enable developers to secure planning permission without a viability assessment on private land where they commit to 20 per cent affordable housing (60% of which must be Social Rent), of which half will be eligible to receive grant funding, with a gain-share mechanism to increase affordable delivery on sites that continue into the next decade where market conditions improve.
Our engagement with the sector indicates that these measures will encourage schemes to come forward, and existing schemes to progress, in the near-term, and will thereby support a rapid recovery in housing delivery.
The GLA opened a consultation for this time-limited measure on Thursday 27 November, and published a background information document with supporting evidence for decision making which can be found here.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had discussions with her Japanese counterparts concerning the proposed new Embassy of the People's Republic of China.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 19 May 2025 to Question 51656.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87415 on Solar Power, how much solar power generating capacity from installations smaller than 150kW capacity are (a) operational, (b) under construction and (c) awaiting a planning decision.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not hold this information.
The monthly deployment statistics I cited in my previous answer use different capacity thresholds but indicate that, as of September 2025, 7.72GW of capacity was available from installations smaller than 50kW.
We do not have data about the number of projects below 150kW under construction or awaiting planning decisions. Most installations smaller than 150kW will be on rooftops. These installations can generally be constructed quickly. Typically, they do not require an application for planning permission as they fall under permitted development rights.