Planning: Coronavirus

(asked on 1st March 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Planning Inspectorate's guidance on site visits, hearings, inquiries and events, published on 28 May 2020, relating to how interested parties and members of the public can participate in the planning process through (a) examination of local plans, (b) accessing documents online and (c) attending virtual hearings during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Christopher Pincher Portrait
Christopher Pincher
This question was answered on 9th March 2021

The Department has worked closely with the Planning Inspectorate during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the Inspectorate’s guidance on site visits, hearings, inquiries and examinations has been kept under regular review. Since it was first published on 12 March 2020 the guidance has been updated when necessary to reflect changes in the public health situation and to ensure that it remains effective.

The Inspectorate responded to the Written Ministerial Statement of 13 May 2020 by designing and testing an online environment suitable for hosting events and to facilitating public engagement and identifying emerging best practice across similar bodies, such as HM Courts and Tribunals Service. The Inspectorate conducted the first virtual hearing on 11 May 2020, and since then around 600 virtual hearings and inquiries have taken place across planning appeals, local plan examinations and nationally significant infrastructure applications.

Virtual events have proven to be effective and offer greater opportunity for involvement in the planning system. The Inspectorate has requested feedback from all participants in virtual events and 90% of those who responded have rated their experience good or excellent, with 97% saying that they would be happy to take part in a virtual event again.

Information supporting nationally significant infrastructure applications is fully available on the Planning Inspectorate website. Supporting information for planning appeals and local plan examinations is published through the website of the relevant council.

The Department is working with the Inspectorate to identify how to best capture the benefits of these new ways of working as part of the vision for a digital future of the planning system that we set out in our Planning for the Future White Paper.

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