Asked by: Lord Risby (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 freeports and special economic zones on UK inward investment trends.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Freeports and Investment Zones, now integrated as Industrial Strategy Zones (ISZs), are delivering strong results for UK inward investment, supporting the government's number one priority – economic growth.
They have attracted over £6.4 billion in private investment to date, including Siemens Gamesa's £186 million wind turbine factory in the Humber and Nissan's £1.12 billion investment in the Northeast Investment Zone.
Over their lifetime, ISZs are projected to generate over £60 billion of private investment, with a focus on the high-growth sectors identified in the Industrial Strategy. Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation of ISZs will track progress and impact against this projection.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any government department maintains a list of local councils and organisations that have taken up twinning or friendship agreements with Ukrainian counterparts since the start of the full-scale invasion; and, if so, whether they will publish it.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No government department maintains a list of local council twinning or friendship agreements.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average time taken between the first planning application for a shale gas well being received and final consent being granted for drilling.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Mineral Planning Authority decisions to grant or refuse planning permission for exploratory wells have taken between 17 and 83 weeks from date of validation to the date the decision was issued.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce delays in the planning process for shale gas development.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Through the 2017 manifesto we have put forward proposals to treat non-fracking drilling as permitted development. These proposals aim to establish expert planning functions to support local councils, and, when necessary, for major shale planning decisions to be made the responsibility of the National Planning Regime. We will continue to consider any further measures needed to help speed up the planning process.