Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost of providing support services to Northumberland County Council in support of the Northumberland Local Plan; and where that funding will come from.

Northumberland County Council submitted representations to the Secretary of State in January outlining how it proposes to accelerate the preparation of its Local Plan. Their current timetable proposes that the Local Plan will published for consultation in winter 2018 and submitted for examination in summer 2019, but we have asked the Council to accelerate this timescale based on advice from the Planning Advisory Service.

Responsibility of resources for preparation of the Local Plan is with the County Council. Government has provided £2 million funding to the Planning Advisory Service to provide support to local authorities for the period 2017-2019.