Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Neighbourhood Plan (General) Regulations 2012, what the average time is between submitting an application for designation of a neighbourhood area and the decision on a plan proposal.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The time taken to produce a neighbourhood plan will depend on its complexity and the resources available within a community. We do not formally monitor the production of neighbourhood plans.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to undertake a value for money assessment of funding allocated to local authorities for garden settlement projects; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have provided or committed £22 million of capacity funding to fund dedicated staff teams and key studies and assessments to underpin delivery of our garden towns and villages. Local authorities are expected to spend capacity funding allocated through the Garden Communities programme on activities for which the funding was awarded. Homes England undertakes day-to-day monitoring of projects on MHCLG’s behalf, and decisions on ongoing funding take account of scheme performance in relation to previous capacity funding awards.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many planning decisions made by (a) himself and (b) the planning inspectorate have been subject to judicial review proceedings in each of the last five years; and if he will list (a) those cases and (b) their outcomes.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
In the past 5 years there have been 60 planning decisions made by the Secretary of State, which have been subject to judicial review proceedings. Over the same period, the Planning Inspectorate have had 42.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local plans have been (a) submitted, (b) examined and (c) found to be legally compliant and sound in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Examination (b) spans the time from submission of the plan to issue of the Inspector’s report. As this may take more than 12 months, it is not possible to give that information in the form requested.
Information on (a) and (c) is as follows:
Year | Local Plans submitted for examination (a) | Local Plan Inspector’s reports issued (c) |
2018 | 48 | 26 |
2017 | 35 | 23 1 |
2016 | 25 | 23 |
2015 | 15 | 26 2 |
2014 | 41 | 33 |
2 In addition one report was issued in 2015 finding a plan unsound.
1 In addition one report was issued in 2017 finding a plan unsound.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many days on average (a) it took for planning inspectors to examine a local plan and (b) there were between a local plan being submitted to a planning inspector and the inspector making a determination on that plan in each of the last five years for which information is available.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The examination stage covers the period from the date of plan submission to the Planning Inspectorate, to the issue of the Inspector’s final report.
Year | Average number of days between submission and issue of Inspector's final report (all post - 2004 Local Plans) |
2018 | 600 |
2017 | 595 |
2016 | 590 |
2015 | 502 |
2014 | 449 |
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process by which neighbourhood plans are agreed; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the timescale to agree neighbourhood plans.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Neighbourhood plans are agreed via local referendums and, to date, there have been over 700 successful referendums. In 2016 the Government introduced reforms through the Housing and Planning Act to speed up and simplify the neighbourhood planning process including setting time limits to ensure local authorities make timely decisions at key stages. These reforms were supported by the publication of sector-led and Government planning guidance. The Government continues to keep these recent reforms to the neighbourhood planning process under review.