Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to ensure local authority planning boards are accountable to local residents.

Planning board or committee members are usually local elected councillors and therefore accountable to the local electorate. They have to abide by the code of conduct each planning authority is required to adopt under Section 27 of the Localism Act 2011. The code of conduct must be consistent with the “Nolan” principles.