Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the risk to public safety from the publication of sensitive information relating to the physical security of properties on local authority planning registers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 106884 on 27 January 2026.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Waverley Borough Council and (b) East Hampshire District Council on the provision of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces and housing delivery.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities must ensure that development does not adversely affect the integrity of sites protected under the Habitats Regulations (including through mitigation measures where appropriate).
Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) is one type of mitigation for the recreational pressures that new housing can place on protected habitats like Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). It provides an attractive alternative green space for new residents, drawing visitors away from sensitive habitats.
Local planning authorities are responsible for ensuring that developers deliver SANGs where they are needed, following an Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Regulations of a relevant development. It is therefore for local planning authorities to monitor local capacity of SANGs.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the availability of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace capacity within local planning authorities covering the (a) Thames Basin Heaths, (b) Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons, and (c) Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protection Areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities must ensure that development does not adversely affect the integrity of sites protected under the Habitats Regulations (including through mitigation measures where appropriate).
Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) is one type of mitigation for the recreational pressures that new housing can place on protected habitats like Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). It provides an attractive alternative green space for new residents, drawing visitors away from sensitive habitats.
Local planning authorities are responsible for ensuring that developers deliver SANGs where they are needed, following an Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Regulations of a relevant development. It is therefore for local planning authorities to monitor local capacity of SANGs.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department collects or holds data on the number of residential planning permissions that cannot be implemented due to a lack of available Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace capacity.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local planning authorities must ensure that development does not adversely affect the integrity of sites protected under the Habitats Regulations (including through mitigation measures where appropriate).
Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) is one type of mitigation for the recreational pressures that new housing can place on protected habitats like Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). It provides an attractive alternative green space for new residents, drawing visitors away from sensitive habitats.
Local planning authorities are responsible for ensuring that developers deliver SANGs where they are needed, following an Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Regulations of a relevant development. It is therefore for local planning authorities to monitor local capacity of SANGs.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2026 to Question 106884, whether the requirement for local planning authorities to maintain published plans and drawings of residential development on planning registers applies indefinitely after that development has been completed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is important that there is a publicly available record of what has been granted planning permission, as this may be used for a range of purposes. For example, these may be used to identify breaches in planning control, or for conveyancing purposes.
However, legislation does not specify how long published plans and drawings of residential development should be retained on planning registers.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27th January 2026 to Question 106884, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of local planning authorities in restricting the publication of ‘sensitive’ information relating to the physical security of a property on planning registers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment. We keep planning practice guidance and procedures under review.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential public safety considerations of detailed internal residential plans remaining publicly accessible online after development has been completed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Plans and drawings of proposed residential development, including any plans for internal arrangements, submitted with a planning application must be maintained and published by local planning authorities on their planning registers.
Local planning authorities should not publish information on their register which they consider to be ‘sensitive’, including information relating to the physical security of a property.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the 2024 Housing Delivery Test results.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Following delays to the publication of the 2023 Housing Delivery Test (HDT) results under the previous government, this government is committed to re-establishing a regular publication cycle.
We therefore intend to combine the data collections for the 2024 and 2025 HDTs and to publish both sets of results as soon as possible this year.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when local authorities will be informed of their indicative allocations of the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant for each consecutive financial year from 2026 to 2029.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Provisional allocations of the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant have been published on gov.uk here. Final allocations will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
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 adequacy of guidance issued to local planning authorities on the increase in housing delivery targets through revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework; and whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of that guidance in enabling authorities to meet statutory obligations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 includes a new Standard Method for assessing housing needs that is aligned to our Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million new safe and decent homes in England by the end of this Parliament
The standard method is used by local authorities to inform the preparation of their local plans. Once local housing need has been assessed, authorities should then make an assessment of the number of new homes that can be provided in their area. This should be justified by evidence on land availability, constraints on development, such as National Landscapes and areas at risk of flooding, and any other relevant matters. The approach taken is then be tested by the Planning Inspector during the examination of the Local Plan.
Alongside the publication of a new Standard method, my Department also published revised planning practice guidance to reflect these changes. This can be found on gov.uk here.
We will keep the need for additional planning practice guidance under review.