Asked by: Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 3 November (HL Deb col 1768), what is the timetable for the review of the existing protections of open spaces.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Open and green spaces are an essential part of local social infrastructure and must be protected for future generations. The review of existing protections will examine the fragmented and outdated nature of current legislative protections for public recreational green spaces, assess how these protections complement those in the planning system, and consider the lack of central records on protected land.
Further details on the review of protections for public recreational green spaces, and on the timetable of the review will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 3 November (HL Deb col 1768), what issues the review of the existing protections of open spaces will examine; and whether there will be a public consultation before changes are proposed to those protections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Open and green spaces are an essential part of local social infrastructure and must be protected for future generations. The review of existing protections will examine the fragmented and outdated nature of current legislative protections for public recreational green spaces, assess how these protections complement those in the planning system, and consider the lack of central records on protected land.
We intend to analyse the effectiveness and usability of existing protections, to simplify the system, ensure consistency for developers and local authorities and empower communities to protect valued spaces.
We intend to engage widely to ensure stakeholder views are considered before recommending any changes are made to these protections.
Further details about the review will be released in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 3 November (HL Deb col 1768), what criteria they plan to use to decide which categories of open space should be included in the review of the existing protections of open spaces, and whether they will include covenanted land or land held in trust.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Open and green spaces are an essential part of local social infrastructure and must be protected for future generations. The review of existing protections will examine the fragmented and outdated nature of current legislative protections for public recreational green spaces, assess how these protections complement those in the planning system, and consider the lack of central records on protected land.
Further details on the review of protections for public recreational green spaces, and on the timetable of the review will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of post-planning early- and late-stage reviews on development viability in London.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Planning practice guidance on viability states that plans should set out circumstances where review mechanisms may be appropriate and how they will operate. The application of this and wider guidance in London is a matter for local planning authorities and the Greater London Authority.
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 within certain conditions.
The GLA opened a consultation for this time-limited measure, and the proposal of the targeted withdrawal of guidance that limits density, on Thursday 27 November which can be found at Support for Housebuilding LPG | London City Hall (attached).
My Department also launched a consultation on the temporary relief from the Community Infrastructure Levy and changes to Mayoral planning powers which can be found at Support for housebuilding in London - GOV.UK (attached). These consultations close on 22 January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to work with the environmental horticulture sector to review challenges around planning to incentivise growers and garden centres to install more onsite reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is currently reviewing recommendations to enable the adoption of water reuse in the Independent Water Commission and will respond to these via a White Paper. We recognise the potential of the horticultural sector to take advantage of available rainwater and will review engagement opportunities with representatives as part of our policy development.
The government will also clarify the Planning Practice Guidance for the permitted development right that grants planning permission for the development of agricultural reservoirs.
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 plans he has to review the performance and efficiency of the planning appeals process under forthcoming reforms.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate's Strategic Plan commits the Agency to removing all casework backlogs and meeting all Ministerial targets, including those on relating to planning appeals, by 2027. The Inspectorate regularly publishes updates on its performance.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan for water and sewerage companies to no longer be statutory consultees on individual applications that are part of a local plan on which they have already been consulted.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Water companies are not statutory consultees on individual planning applications, but they are consulted as part of the preparation of local development plans. We have no plans to change these arrangements.
On 17 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation closes on 13 January 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 ensure that development firms (a) meet national affordable housing targets and (b) do not reduce delivery on viability grounds.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure.
Alongside measures to deal with the legacy problem of existing uncontracted S106 units, we intend to take steps to create a simpler, more transparent, and more resilient S106 system.
As set out in the package of support for housebuilding in London announced by the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London on 23 October, which can be found on gov.uk here, the government intends to clarify the use of Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 so that an application under this section to vary a condition of a planning permission should no longer be used as an alternative means of reconsidering fundamental questions of scheme viability or planning obligations.
We are also reviewing the planning practice guidance PPG on viability. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 developers reducing affordable housing delivery on local housing need in West Dorset.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure.
Alongside measures to deal with the legacy problem of existing uncontracted S106 units, we intend to take steps to create a simpler, more transparent, and more resilient S106 system.
As set out in the package of support for housebuilding in London announced by the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London on 23 October, which can be found on gov.uk here, the government intends to clarify the use of Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 so that an application under this section to vary a condition of a planning permission should no longer be used as an alternative means of reconsidering fundamental questions of scheme viability or planning obligations.
We are also reviewing the planning practice guidance PPG on viability. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 ensure that development firms meet their agreed affordable housing commitments in West Dorset.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure.
Alongside measures to deal with the legacy problem of existing uncontracted S106 units, we intend to take steps to create a simpler, more transparent, and more resilient S106 system.
As set out in the package of support for housebuilding in London announced by the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London on 23 October, which can be found on gov.uk here, the government intends to clarify the use of Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 so that an application under this section to vary a condition of a planning permission should no longer be used as an alternative means of reconsidering fundamental questions of scheme viability or planning obligations.
We are also reviewing the planning practice guidance PPG on viability. Further details will be set out in due course.