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 Written Statement entitled Resetting the S106 system, HCWS1286, published on 28 January 2026, whether additional legal, valuation, and planning resources will be made available to local planning authorities.

The Planning and Infrastructure Act includes powers that allow the Secretary of State to delegate planning fee-setting to local planning authorities, enabling them to recover costs and reinvest to provide a more efficient and responsive planning service, including in respect of making timelier decisions.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.

At the Budget on 26 November 2025, the Chancellor announced a further £48 million of investment over three years to support local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners over a sustained period.

Of this, £28.8 million has been allocated to MHCLG’s Planning Capacity and Capability Programme, equating to £9.6 million additional per year for the next three years. This allocation will supplement existing budgets.

In total, the Programme now aims to deliver around 1,325 planners by the end of this Parliament, significantly exceeding our original manifesto commitment to deliver 300 new planning officers. Wider cross-government recruitment and investment in planning capacity and capability will increase this figure further to approximately 1,400 planners.

The new funding will support both graduate and mid-career entry routes into planning, including by means of expanding the Pathways to Planning Graduate Scheme and establishing a Planning Careers Hub.