Jul. 25 2025
Source Page: Local Growth Fund and Getting Building Fund: Process evaluationJul. 25 2025
Source Page: Local Growth Fund and Getting Building Fund: Final feasibility assessmentJul. 25 2025
Source Page: Levelling Up Fund process evaluation: phase 1Jul. 25 2025
Source Page: Local Growth Fund and Getting Building Fund: Final feasibility assessmentJul. 25 2025
Source Page: Towns Fund evaluation: Emerging findings from the process and intervention-level impact evaluationsAsked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Reforms to Building Safety Regulator to accelerate housebuilding, published on 30 June 2025, if she will set out how Building Safety Regulator processes will change under the Fast Track Process; and what steps she is taking to reform the Building Safety Regulator (a) to implement the Fast Track Process (b) more broadly.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new Fast Track process established within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will launch on 4 August and will initially focus on new-build applications before being broadened to include other application categories once the effectiveness of the process has been proven.
The Fast Track process will expedite the building control process by bringing in expertise in-house, whilst still assuring the delivery of safe, high-quality buildings. BSR has increased the level of feedback and two-way discussion with applicants and is also approving applications with requirements in appropriate circumstances thereby enabling work to commence whilst still ensuring building regulations compliance will be demonstrated.
BSR is now publishing regular data which sets out application volumes and processing times. These datasets can be found here: Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2023 to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to publish regular reports on the outcomes of the fast track process of the Building Safety Regulator.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new Fast Track process established within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will launch on 4 August and will initially focus on new-build applications before being broadened to include other application categories once the effectiveness of the process has been proven.
The Fast Track process will expedite the building control process by bringing in expertise in-house, whilst still assuring the delivery of safe, high-quality buildings. BSR has increased the level of feedback and two-way discussion with applicants and is also approving applications with requirements in appropriate circumstances thereby enabling work to commence whilst still ensuring building regulations compliance will be demonstrated.
BSR is now publishing regular data which sets out application volumes and processing times. These datasets can be found here: Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2023 to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria will be used to determine eligibility for the Building Safety Regulator's fast track process.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new Fast Track process established within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will launch on 4 August and will initially focus on new-build applications before being broadened to include other application categories once the effectiveness of the process has been proven.
The Fast Track process will expedite the building control process by bringing in expertise in-house, whilst still assuring the delivery of safe, high-quality buildings. BSR has increased the level of feedback and two-way discussion with applicants and is also approving applications with requirements in appropriate circumstances thereby enabling work to commence whilst still ensuring building regulations compliance will be demonstrated.
BSR is now publishing regular data which sets out application volumes and processing times. These datasets can be found here: Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2023 to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has issued recent guidance to local authorities on public right of access to privately-owned public spaces that are owned by (a) private companies and (b) local authorities through a private company.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not issued guidance in relation to this matter.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether it is her Department's policy that all planning decisions should adhere to the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that when determining planning applications, local planning authorities should apply the principle that if significant harm to biodiversity resulting from a development cannot be avoided, adequately mitigated, or, as a last resort, compensated for, then planning permission should be refused.
Any mitigation or compensation would be set out in planning conditions and obligations associated with the relevant planning permission, enabling local planning authorities to monitor the development's implementation and, if necessary, take enforcement action.
More widely, the government is clear that the current approach to discharging environmental obligations is too often delaying and deterring development and placing unnecessary burdens on housebuilders and local authorities. It requires housebuilders to pay for localised and often costly mitigation measures, only to maintain the environmental status quo. By not taking a holistic view across larger geographies, mitigation measures often fail to secure the best outcomes for the environment.
The Nature Restoration Fund provided for by Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will end this sub-optimal arrangement. By facilitating a more strategic approach to the discharge of environmental obligations, in order to address the impact of development and improve the conservation status of the relevant environmental feature, it will streamline the delivery of new homes and infrastructure and result in improved environmental outcomes being delivered more efficiently.
In establishing an alternative to the existing system, the Nature Restoration Fund intentionally provides flexibility to diverge from a restrictive application of the mitigation hierarchy. We believe this flexibility should apply where, in Natural England's expert judgement, this would be appropriate and in line with the overarching objective of delivering better outcomes for the relevant environmental feature over the course of the EDP - including conservative measures being delivered at a different site to where the development impacts are being felt.
There will be a continued role for the mitigation hierarchy in the design of Environmental Delivery Plans, ensuring that local conservation measures are preferred unless there is a clearly articulated environmental basis to look further afield.