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 potential merits of adding chalk streams to the list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included explicit recognition of chalk streams as features of high environmental value.

We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.