Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are required to consult with residents of a neighbouring authority when a planning application is submitted relating to land abutting both local areas.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Local planning authorities are legally required to publicise applications for planning permission, prior to deciding the application.
There is nothing to prevent a local planning authority notifying a neighbour resident in an adjoining authority area, where the application site abuts the boundary, and it would be considered good practice to do so.
In some cases, such as for major development, the local planning authority has a statutory duty to either display a site notice or serve a notice on any adjoining owner/occupier informing them of the application, irrespective of the location of any local authority boundary.
Local planning authorities must consider all representations received within the prescribed consultation period.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), what the definition is of a broad location for growth; whether local authorities under the NPPF criteria are permitted to change land previously listed as an allocated site for development to a broad location during the course of an examination in public; and what is his policy on grade II-listed park and gardens within the green belt being protected from broad location for growth.
Answered by Lord Sharma
National planning policy does not define broad locations for growth. This is a matter for local decision and definition through the preparation of plans.
When considering changes during the examination of development plan documents, it would be for the appointed planning inspector, working with the local authority, to determine whether a change is appropriate. Given my quasi-judicial role in the planning process, I cannot comment on specific cases.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out strong protections for the Green Belt. The Framework makes it clear that a local authority may alter the shape of its Green Belt only in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan process. The Framework does not define these ‘exceptional circumstances’. In the Housing White Paper, Fixing our broken housing market, we proposed that a local authority should be able to alter a Green Belt boundary in exceptional circumstances if it can demonstrate that it has examined all other reasonable options for meeting its identified development needs.
We hope to respond to the consultation in the Housing White Paper in the new year.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms are available to his Department to require Leeds City Council to review its Local Plan to take into account the Council's own downward revision of its housing target before it reaches public inquiry.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), local planning authorities should ensure that any Plan they produce is based on adequate, up-to-date and relevant evidence. This is tested by the independent Planning Inspector, during the statutory examination of a Plan.
The 2017 White Paper: Fixing our broken housing market, also set out the scope of Government powers and criteria for making decision on whether to intervene in local plan-making in exceptional circumstances.