Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether Councils are able to use money from the Community Infrastructure Levy to refresh neighbourhood plans.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) receipts must be used for the purposes which are set out in section 216 of the Planning Act 2008 and Part 7 of the CIL regulations.
Local authorities must spend the levy on infrastructure needed to support the development of their area Where charging authorities collect the levy, they can use up to 5% of funds from the levy to recover the costs of administering the levy.
Where all or part of a chargeable development is within the area of a parish council, the charging authority must pass a proportion of the CIL receipts from the development to the parish council. The ‘neighbourhood portion’ of CIL can be spent on infrastructure or anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.
Further information on spending the levy is set out in CIL guidance which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
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 role of local plans in the planning system in the future.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether borough local plans have precedence over parish level neighbourhood plans.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Once passed at referendum, neighbourhood plans form part of the development plan. Policies in a neighbourhood plan may become out of date, including if they conflict with policies in a local plan adopted after the making of the neighbourhood plan. In such cases, the more recent plan policy would take precedence.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost of maintaining and keeping open the Jubilee River Channel in the last four years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Jubilee River is part of the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton Flood Alleviation Scheme which is operated and maintained by the Environment Agency. The cost of maintaining and keeping the Jubilee River channel open are difficult to extract from the overall cost of operating and maintaining the flood alleviation scheme; calculating this would fall into disproportionate costs. The Environment Agency has allocated £2.3m for maintenance and capital improvements on the whole Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton Flood Alleviation Scheme this year. In previous years spending has varied, depending on the programme of work.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the tilted balance in decision making is formally recognised as part of national planning policy; and what guidance his Department has issued to ensure consistent application by planning authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Users of the National Planning Policy Framework sometimes describe the effect of paragraph 11d of the Framework as a ‘tilted balance’. However, the term itself does not form part of national planning policy.
The Framework is a material consideration in decision-making. The government’s suite of planning practice guidance contains guidance for decision makers regarding the application of the policies in the Framework.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the estimated average cost of a prisoner's breakfast is according to the latest available data.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Data about expenditure on food and specific meals is not held centrally. Prison food budgets are determined locally (by the Governor in public sector prisons or the Director in privately managed prisons). They are kept under review as part of normal non-pay budget allocation. Our policy sets out clear expectations to provide for three balanced nutritious meals a day, including breakfast and catering managers are provided guidance to support this.