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 opportunities for local people to play an active role in helping to shape local planning proposals.

The Planning for the Future White Paper proposes to make the planning system simpler, quicker and more accessible for local people to engage with. The current planning system has a very poor record on community engagement and is complex, lengthy and difficult to navigate.

Our planning reforms will give communities a greater voice from the start of the planning process and make it quicker and easier for local people to have greater input to local plans and design codes, to give communities real influence over both the location and design of development.

By making plan making much more straightforward and digital, it will become easier for local people to influence plans and have their say on the location and standard of new developments.