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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of reduced central Government grants to local authorities since 2010 on the resources and capacity of planning departments.

We want to ensure that local authority planning departments are well resourced and that planning professionals have the right skills to make creative decisions and take forward our ambitious proposals for planning reform. Since 2010 we have provided direct grant support to local authorities and Neighbourhood Planning Groups to help them engage their communities in Neighbourhood Planning to shape and influence the places in which they live and work.

The Planning White Paper states that we will explore options to introduce a new planning fee structure to ensure that local planning authorities are properly resourced to improve the speed and quality of their decisions. We will also develop a comprehensive resources and skills strategy for the planning sector to support the implementation of our reforms.