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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to ensure that Valuation Office reports are (a) referred to in all planning processes and (b) published for each development site.

A local planning authority (LPA) may appoint the VOA on a contractual basis to provide it with a viability assessment in respect of, for example, a specific development site where the LPA is seeking to apply a section 106 planning obligation on a developer for the provision of local infrastructure or affordable housing. Government guidance is clear that any such viability assessment, undertaken by the VOA or any other party, should be prepared on the basis that it will be made publicly available other than in exceptional circumstances, where an executive summary should be made publicly available instead.