Planning Reform

Debate between Alice Macdonald and Matthew Pennycook

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook]

I will meet the hon. Gentleman and his local authority leader—I am more than happy to set out the Government’s position on green-belt land designation and release—but I gently say to him and other Opposition Members that there is no way of building the volume of homes our country needs on brownfield land alone. There is not enough land on brownfield land registers, certainly not brownfield land that is in the right place and viable to meet that need. We do need to release more land, including green-belt land, but we are doing it in a fair way and starting with grey-belt land first.

[Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the Minister’s commitment to tackling the housing crisis that we inherited. I have had many emails from people in Norwich about the need to build much-needed homes but also to protect our natural environment. As he probably knows, Norfolk is home to 10% of England’s chalk streams. He has touched on this, but can he provide reassurances to my constituents, and outline how this new policy will protect vital nature spots, like chalk streams?

[Matthew Pennycook]

We do want to provide greater protection for our precious chalk streams, which is why we have included explicit recognition of them in the framework. As I said in a previous answer, we will ensure that local plans identify and manage the impacts of development on these sensitive areas and set clearer expectations for development proposals in relation to them. The aim is to secure the consistent application of policy on these precious habitats. That will be supported by the roll-out of local nature recovery strategies, which will be able to map chalk streams and identify measures to enhance and improve them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alice Macdonald and Matthew Pennycook

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)]

As the Minister will be aware, nutrient neutrality has had a big impact on Norfolk, holding up many homes and planning applications. The launch of the Norfolk nutrient mitigation fund has helped to make a difference, but we need more environmental solutions. Will the Minister update us on what else we will be doing to address nutrient neutrality, so that good homes and growth can be unlocked in our local area?

[Matthew Pennycook]

We are supporting a range of targeted interventions to deal with constraints such as nutrient neutrality. In the longer term, the measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that introduce the nature restoration fund will allow us to provide a win-win for both development and nature, dealing with constraints such as nutrient neutrality and unlocking the development of new homes.