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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to utilise architects to allow development of complex brownfield sites in proposed National Planning Policy Framework reforms.

National planning policy sets out the circumstances in which the development of brownfield land is considered appropriate, and the standards that are expected, including a high quality of design. It does not specify the professions which should be involved, which is a matter for the client, but is important that a range of disciplines is brought to bear as appropriate to the nature of the site, and architects will often play a key role. We have set out proposals for how brownfield development could be better supported in our consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and our discussion paper on ‘brownfield passports’.