Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to help ensure that development is not approved where wastewater infrastructure capacity is insufficient.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are under a statutory duty to provide new water and sewerage connections to residential properties, as well as planning to meet the needs of growth as part of statutory Water Resources Management Plans, and Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). The decision on whether to approve a development lies with the relevant Local Planning Authority, in line with guidance such as the National Planning Policy Framework. Sewerage undertakers must ensure that they have planned infrastructure need to meet both existing demand, and planned levels of household and non-household growth, as informed by local development plans and relevant modelling. In May 2025, Defra published guidance for the next round of DWMPs instructing sewerage undertakers on how they should prepare their statutory plans, setting out how they intend to manage and develop their infrastructure to meet current and future demand.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 consistency of Planning Inspectorate decisions where local plans are absent, emerging or under review; how often inspectors have cited housing land supply shortfalls to justify approving development on protected land; and whether he will review the weighting given to local democratic decisions versus national housing targets in such cases.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment.
The Planning Inspectorate does not compile data on the number of instances Inspectors have cited Housing Land Supply shortfalls to allow an appeal on designated land, such as a protected site.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
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 plans to take to give powers to councils to reject applications for new betting shops, vapes stores and fake barbers.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is taking action to give local authorities and communities the power greater control over the mix of uses on their high streets. Later this year Government will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, backed by at least £150 million of support, to tackle the challenges care about most.
When parliamentary time allows, we will introduce Cumulative Impact Assessments in gambling licensing, enabling councils to better manage the concentration of gambling premises in vulnerable areas. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also provide powers to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products. Alongside this, the 2025 Budget committed £15 million per year to tackle illegal activity on the high street.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2026 to Question 115602 on Nature Conservation: Planning Permission, what monitoring requirements are required for developments located near hydrologically sensitive wetlands.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Any monitoring requirement would depend on the nature of both the development and the wetland’s protected status.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to ask the Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2026 to Question 115602 on Nature Conservation: Planning Permission, what guidance her Department issues to Natural England on assessing hydrological risks to wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest when providing advice on major housing developments.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is determined by various legislation and the National Planning Policy Framework.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support local planning authorities to process applications for employment land and commercial development more efficiently.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The MHCLG Digital Planning Programme is developing data standards for planning applications and supporting the adoption of modern planning software to make the planning process smoother, faster, and more efficient. Further detail on the programme can be found on gov.uk here.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 112629 on 2 March 2026.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to local planning authorities on the use of injunctions under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in cases involving repeated or escalating breaches of planning control.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Relevant guidance on enforcement, including planning injunctions, can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 extent to which housing delivery shortfalls are being used to justify development on protected land; how many homes approved on appeal in the last 12 months were on land previously designated as green belt; and what proportion of those approvals were opposed by the relevant local planning authority and ward councillors.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clear safeguards for land which is designated for its environmental or amenity value.
While a poor score on the Housing Delivery Test (HDT) is a strong indicator of housing need in an area not being met sufficiently, HDT failure does not mean that planning permission for housing will be automatically granted.
In 2025, the Planning Inspectorate approved approximately 3,000 homes on Green Belt land, of which 88% had been originally refused by the relevant Local Planning Authority.
My Department does not hold information in relation to opposition to specific applications by individual ward councillors.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78185 on Glenigan, what assessment has Glenigan made of the reasons for sites with planning permission not being (a) started and (b) completed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Glenigan gathers data from the websites of local planning authorities. They supplement this with additional research tracking expected start and completion dates for the construction phase of larger sites.
Glenigan undertakes no systematic labelling of reasons why individual sites have not yet started or completed construction, and my Department is not aware of their publishing any assessments in relation to this specific matter.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance the Environment Agency provides to local planning authorities on assessing the cumulative impact of development on surface water flood risk and drainage capacity in low-lying coastal areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) are the lead authority for managing surface water flooding. LLFAs are statutory consultees on major development, providing expert advice to local planning authorities. The Environment Agency (EA) has a strategic overview for all sources of flooding.
In December 2024 the EA published its updated National Assessment of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk in England. This included an updated assessment of surface water flood risk.
The EA also supports consideration of surface water flood risk in decision making for new developments through the Flood Map for Planning and Check your long term flood risk services.
The EA is supporting implementation of the Government’s new flood and coastal erosion risk management funding policy, which made several improvements to aid investment in managing surface water flooding. The EA has produced guidance explaining how the new policy will work in practice.